In what could swiftly develop into a battle of the iron chins, Tony Bellew has offered his prediction for a fantasy fight between Canelo Alvarez and Carl Froch.
While having produced some of his best performances at 168lbs, it could be said that Canelo was a more natural middleweight, where he reigned as the WBC champion between 2015 and 2019.
It was during this time, too, that he fought Gennady Golovkin in two iconic encounters, with their first contest ending in a draw that had many believing a robbery had occured.
But despite the widespread view that he should have already lost to the mighty Kazakh, there was far less of an outcry when Canelo won their rematch by majority decision.
Perhaps most impressive was the Mexican’s ability to withstand repeated onslaughts – from one of the sport’s most devastating punchers – across 24 rounds of action.
Similarly, Froch was known for his tremendous durability and resilience at the top level, as evidenced by his stunning come-from-behind 12th-round stoppage of Jermain Taylor in 2009.
Not only that, but Froch’s natural size advantage is another reason why Bellew has told Fight Your Corner that he would favour ‘The Cobra’ to defeat Alvarez.
“[Canelo’s] very good, he’s just … small. That’s the only thing. Carl’s big. Frochy was a bit of an animal, to be fair.
“You know, 100%, Frochy’s walking you down. And I’m not sure how Canelo would deal with that. I think he’s probably got one of the best chins I’ve ever seen in my life, Canelo.
“I’ve never even seen him badly hurt. I’ve seen him buzzed, but I’ve never seen his legs shudder.
“But, like I said, I think [Froch] might be too big and just outwork him. I’m going to go Froch [on] points, but what a fight that would have been.”
While Froch retired from the sport in 2014, Canelo remains an active fighter after losing his undisputed super-middleweight crown to Terence Crawford last September.
