Exclusive – Froch reveals talks set over Chavez Jr fight in Las Vegas
Carl Froch has told talkSPORT he is edging closer to securing a dream fight in Las Vegas with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Eddie Hearn will fly to America this week to hold talks with Al Haymon, a powerful figure in boxing who has recently signed a deal to work with the Mexican.
Chavez Jr is in a contractual dispute with his former promoters Top Rank having left them to link up with Haymon, but Froch is confident of finally sorting a showdown with the 28-year-old in 2015.
"Eddie Hearn is getting on a plane, I don’t know whether that is tomorrow or Wednesday, and he’s got a very important meeting with a guy called Al Haymon and hopefully there is going to be some news soon,” said the IBF and WBA super-middleweight champion, who has never fought in the fight capital of the world.
“He is now looking after Chavez Jr and apparently he is not under that contract [with Top Rank] any more. If that is the case and he is a free agent, then there is no reason that fight can’t happen early next year, maybe March or April."
Froch would have to vacate the IBF belt to face Chavez Jr, denying James DeGale, mandatory challenger, the chance to fight his fellow Briton.
DeGale labelled Froch a “coward” on Saturday night for failing to agree to fight him, after knocking out Marco Antonio Periban in three rounds.
According to the 37-year-old, the Olympic gold medalist will regret making that jibe, and he insists he has every right to pursue a meeting with Chavez Jr in Nevada instead.
“I would fight James DeGale if that warranted going to Vegas,” said Froch. “Unfortunately, it would be at The O2 in England and I have done it, I have been there. At 37, I think I should be entitled to say ‘I fancy Las Vegas’.
“I don’t mind James DeGale. I think he comes across well. He is a likeable character. I had a good chat with him ringside at a fight ten months ago.
“He is improving, he is looking fast, he looks like he is punching harder. He is full of confidence, and he is going well, but to sit at ringside and say Carl Froch is a coward - just have a look at my resume.
“If I took him seriously, which I don’t, I could be very upset by it. It is the worst thing you can call a boxer who is a champion and who has faced the level of opposition I have faced.
“The amount of guts and courage it takes to do what I’ve done, you can’t call me a coward, and I think he will probably regret it. That sort of talk will not get me in the ring. It will make me not want to fight him because then I think I’ll have to listen to that for three months at training camp.
“He has let himself down a bit there, but I am not going to give him stick. As a fighter, he is a serious threat for other people, but not me.”