Carl Froch says Joe Calzaghe shouldn’t have an unbeaten record: ‘He deserved to lose this fight’

Joe Calzaghe retired with an unbeaten record of 46-0, but his super middleweight rival Carl Froch believes the ‘Pride of Wales’ got lucky in one of his victories.

The Newbridge-born southpaw made 21 successful defenses of the WBO super middleweight world title during his career, beating names such as Chris Eubank, Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr – establishing himself as one of the greatest British fighters of all time.

However, despite numerous interventions from fellow British super-middleweight Carl Froch, Calzaghe never collided with ‘The Cobra’ – a fight which some believe could have cost him his invincibility.

While Froch believes the Welshman was afraid to face him, Calzaghe maintains that the confrontations with Kessler, Hopkins and Jones were bigger opportunities and that Froch did not deserve his chance at that time.

In an interview with The Ring, Froch stated his belief that Calzaghe was lucky to retire with his unbeaten record, recalling the time he was put in charge of former WBC super middleweight world champion Robin Reid in 1999.

“Robin Reid could really punch, and in my opinion he deserved the victory over Joe Calzaghe in their fight.”

Calzaghe scored a split decision victory over Reid in what was a third successful defense of the WBO bracelet and one of two controversial results in his career, the other being another split decision victory over Hopkins nine years later.