BoxRec News caught up with Carl 'The Cobra' Froch at Sheffield's English Institute of Sport this afternoon, the day before the WBC super-middleweight champion heads off to America to complete preparations for his June 4th Super Six semi-final against Glen Johnson.
"I’m fighting now for my legacy and to be put up with those great names - this gives me that recognition. Glen Johnson is someone who's been in there with the best of them, mixed it at the top level but not always got the results. Somebody who you need to beat in style to prove you can dominate at world level.
"Everyone is expecting me to go in there and do a job and I won’t take my eye off the ball.
Could the fact that Johnson has mixed with the elite at light-heavyweight make a difference to what the Jamaican will bring on the night?
"He’s got to do the weight although he is a big strong light-heavyweight. He’ll probably be bigger on the night and he’ll feel bigger, stronger and heavier and very tough but the fact he’s done the weight means he’ll be tiring down the stretch.
"Let’s not forget he’s 42, he’s as old as my trainer and I know wouldn’t want to be fighting now. I know that because he tells me."
Should Froch overcome Johnson, he knows who is lying in wait for him - Andre 'S.O.G.' Ward who impressed once again at the weekend with a very dominant win over Froch's previous victim, Arthur Abraham.
"Yeah, I’ve seen the fight (Ward-Abraham) and from the start I always thought it would be a Froch-Ward final for the unified titles and that looks like the way it’s panning out. I’ve just got to get my foot over the line with Johnson in a couple of weeks and that’s how it will be."
Seeing as Froch has been looking at Ward for some time then, could complacency on his part become a factor?
"That could be a danger if I wasn’t a consummate professional. Somebody who's been and done what I’ve done would never take someone like Glen Johnson lightly - that would be stupid.
"I’ve done all my training and all my runs I’ve one 100-odd rounds of sparring against top fighters. I’m fully prepared for a 42 year-old Johnson or a fresh Johnson with a title. There’s no danger of me getting in there and being complacent at all."
Whereas Froch has been all over the place during this tournament, Ward seems to have been blessed for some reason, with all four of his contests so far taking place in his home state of California.
"There’s an argument that Ward’s had it all in his favour and he’s had it very easy; that’s just the way it’s worked out. He’s not travelled away and jumped on an aeroplane like I have three times. It’s not ideal for me. With me being champion maybe we should have slipped something into the contract that when you’re champion you get the option to fight at home. It’s not happened but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
"I’d rather have had Ward’s run. He boxed Kessler when he was out of the ring for ten months and had one comeback fight which was like a sparring session. Kessler had to travel over there with his belt and fight Ward in his back yard and he got away with murder Ward did. He head butted him and cut him up and Kessler was never able to get going.
"Ward has had an easy run in terms of not being out of his comfort zone but it’s my job to take him out of his comfort zone when I fight him - put him on his back foot, hit him hard and often and let him realise he’s in a fight - and that fight’s not going to be in California, no chance."
Eddie Hearn laid out the argument that Froch is the best boxer ever to come from Britain and it's well known in the trade that the boxer himself feels he's flown under Joe Public's radar.
"It’s very upsetting. I’ve done what I’ve done, I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved and I’ve not had the recognition and acknowledgement from people I’ve deserved. But I’m putting all that behind me, moving forward, I'm back on Sky, involved in big fights it’s time for me to get some acknowledgement and recognition I deserve."
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