Exclusive – Froch is a ‘shot fighter’ and should retire, claims Hamed

Carl Froch has got no chance of winning a rematch with George Groves and should hang up his gloves now.

That is the view of Prince Naseem Hamed, who was ringside when Froch retained his WBA and IBF super-middleweight titles with a controversial ninth-round stoppage of his fellow Briton in November.

The Nottingham fighter has been ordered by the IBF to grant Groves a rematch, but Hamed is urging the 36-year-old not to get in the ring with his young rival again having taken heavy punishment early on in their first bout before the contentious ending.

"After that fight, Carl Froch is a shot fighter and that means, in my game, you are finished," said the former featherweight world champion, speaking on the Hawksbee and Jacobs show.

“What I found amazing about George was, before that night, I never rated him. I was amazed to see everything he said he was going to do in the first round, he did.

“He reminded me of me, of what I used to tell opponents before the fight. He went out to put him on his back in the first round and he went and did that with an amazing shot.

“I rate Carl for coming through the whole of that and finding a way to win. That’s what champions do. But if there is a rematch, I honestly do believe that George will win it, convincingly.

“One of the first trainers I ever had use to say, ‘there comes a time in a fighter’s life when one day they climb into a ring, whether they are a champion or not, and all of a sudden it is over, it is finished, and they should realise that’.

“Carl is a lovely guy, he has got a lovely family and I love the fact he looked out the ropes at the end of the fight, looked at me in front of the whole crowd and said, ‘I love you’, but I can only tell the truth.

“He has had an amazing career, he has won some amazing fights, he has done what some people can only dream of in the sport of boxing. Instead of going on for that extra fight or whatever, why not do the smart thing and say ‘you know what, like Sugar Ray Leonard said, I have had my day in the sun’.

“Whether the whole nation would love to see the fight or not, I only wish he retires."