Ten years after the final fight of one of the finest careers of any British fighter, Carl Froch reflects on the journey that, perhaps wrongly, is at risk of being defined by one night above all else. Interview: Declan Warrington BN: You’ve been a retired fighter for 10 years..
. CF: It’s gone quick. It seems like yesterday, but in reality I was a totally different person 10 years ago.
I don’t feel like that guy that was fighting. I feel like a civilised human being. I’m more understanding – I never used to give people a second chance – I’m more relaxed; I’m not as stubborn.
Although it feels like yesterday, I’ve got a 13-year-old, a 10-year-old and an eight-year-old – two of them were babies and one wasn’t even born, so I know it’s been a long time. BN: You walked away from boxing as a teenager..
. CF: I didn’t enjoy amateur boxing anymore. I was enjoying being in pubs playing pool; poker; fruit machines, so I walked away from the sport.
I moved back to Nottingham at 19. I was unfit; mixed up in a couple of things on the street trying to make a bit of money, and it was a dead end. I worked at a company called Diamond Cable; it was a telecommunications company.
I was an office junior; was there for three or four years and ended up being the supervisor of the direct debits department. I used to phone up customers, and all that boring bullshit. I was working for pubs; working doors with my dad on the weekends, and doing a bit of hustling as well, which I .