Carl Froch prepared to return for Joe Calzaghe fight – I’d love to punch him in the face

Carl Froch has called out Joe Calzaghe again, telling his fellow retired boxer he would “love to punch him in the face” and settle their feud.

Promoter Eddie Hearn is in the process of organising virtual press conferences between fighters who never met in the ring.

Froch and Calzaghe were both super-middleweight world champions in the previous decade, though the latter’s decision to move up to light-heavyweight meant an all-British bout never materialised.

Two-weight world champion Calzaghe, now 48, retired in 2008 with an undefeated 46-0 record and the fact he never faced Froch still rankles with a man six years his junior.

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Speaking on his podcast, Froch said: “Eddie Hearn sends me a message saying, ‘I’m doing some virtual press conferences, I’m thinking about getting you and Calzaghe on.’

“I thought, ‘He’s probably not gonna get Calzaghe on, he probably won’t fancy it.’

“I said to him, ‘Forget the virtual one, we’ll do the press conference, but if we can get him out of retirement, I fancy a bit of that.’

“I’ve always said I’ll come out of retirement for the right dance partner. Obviously, I’m not gonna jump in there with a current world champion who’s been active, but someone like Joe Calzaghe, I mean, I’m not being funny.

“I don’t wanna be horrible or disrespectful in any way, but it’s gonna sound like I am, even though I’m not, but have you seen the state of him?

“Have you seen the size of his head? I don’t know why it’s swollen up so badly. He looks like he’s got high blood pressure. He looks a bit of a mess.

“So if he agreed to give me a fight, to come out of retirement, because of my cheek, and because of the way I’m speaking about him, then I’d definitely fancy a bit of that.

“But he ain’t gonna wanna come out because he knows he’d get absolutely flattened, because I’m in good shape.”

Froch, whose last fight was a victory over George Groves at Wembley in 2014 that left him with a 33-2 record, added: “I always give Calzaghe credit. He was a great fighter, really tough, unbeaten in 46 fights.

“He’s never, ever given me any props at all. And for that I’d love to punch him in the face really hard.”

Calzaghe has spoken openly about his mental struggles since retiring.

His father and former trainer, Enzo, died in 2018 and the Welshman described coping with his loss as “hell”. Calzaghe’s mother, Jackie, died in February.