Initial Thoughts
Firstly, I will start by stating that Carl Froch fought the best in his division at the time and attained solid victories in the process; he also lost to the best, namely Andre Ward.
Froch defeated Lucien Bute in devastating fashion (James Degale had went the distance with an older version of Bute), securing a TKO win in the 5th round after delivering a relentless onslaught.
Froch’s other notable wins include: Jermaine Taylor, Mikkel Kessler (avenging a defeat that he had attained before), Jean Pascal, Andre Dirrell (a controversial victory, I personally had thought that Froch lost this fight when watching the replay), Arthur Abraham and a KO victory over George Groves (dare I say, at Wembley in front of 80,000 people).
Joshua’s Victories
On the other hand, Anthony Joshua had defeated a dethroned and very much past prime Wladimir Klitschko, who scored a knockdown against Joshua in the 6th-round of their respective match.
Other victories for Joshua include: Charles Martin (whose best win was against Vyacheslav Glazkov who sustained an injury in the fight), Dominic Breazeale, Alexander Povetkin (albeit, past his prime), Kubrat Pulev (also past his prime, but always came up short at world-level), Joseph Parker (a contender but wasn’t able to hold the belt at world-level), Dillian Whyte, Carlos Takam and Andy Ruiz (avenging a bad TKO loss via decision).
Froch’s Victories
Getting a victory over Wladimir Klitschko was certainly a feat for Joshua, but this victory is lessened by the fact that Tyson Fury had already dethroned Klitschko approximately 2 years before. Froch, on the other hand, had defeated other fighters whilst they were at the top of their game; this was arguably true for Jean Pascal, Lucien Bute, Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham and George Groves (the first victory over Groves was a controversial one, and I don’t think this should have been stopped at the point it was during the 9th-round).
Mikkel Kessler’s only losses at the time of the first Froch fight were to elite-level operators: Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward, there is absolutely no shame in losing to such talented boxers.
In short, I think it’s clear thus far that Carl Froch has the superior legacy; Carl Froch’s ego not-with-standing.
Further Thoughts
Finally, I would like to say the following; I think a trainer who is more experienced with explosive heavyweights would have been good for Anthony Joshua: Teddy Atlas has worked with heavyweights before, and so has Sugar Hill (Sugar Hill has had a lot of success with Tyson Fury as of late). I think that the fall-out Joshua has had with Rob McKracken has had an impact on Froch’s psyche, who appears to be very loyal to his former trainer when he was an active boxer.
