Boxing: Froch worth place on fast track to success after Belfast battering

First British boxer to win a World Amateur Championship medal for 30 years is now the sport's brightest prospect

The changing room in Belfast looked like a temporary medical theatre in a modern war zone with discarded ice packs, bloody bandages and surgical tape thick on the floor and somewhere under the huddle of doctors, physiotherapists and trainers was a young boxer called Carl Froch.

A few minutes earlier Froch had made British boxing history by winning his quarter-final in the middleweight division at the World Amateur Boxing championships and becoming the first British boxer in 30 years to win a medal. Froch was in a state, the win was his third in five days, his body was ruined and it was no surprise when he lost in the semi-final 24 hours later. He was bruised and exhausted but he had the bronze medal.

"I have never felt that tired in my entire life," said Froch. "I swear it was like I had no control and everything was moving in slow motion. I just went through the motions in the ring and after each fight everybody would surround me and try and make me better. I felt like the bloody Six Million Dollar Man."

Froch returned from Belfast and the professional promoters, managers and dreamers came calling. They left their cards, their messages and, once he had decided that Athens in 2004 was just too far away for him to remain an impoverished amateur, he had to make a decision. It is not that hard because there are only two or three people worth talking to.

After a few false starts and some dubious waits for returned calls, Froch settled on an unknown promoter called Mick Hennessy. The money was right, the atmosphere was right at the academy that the promoter created in London's East End but when he first signed Hennessy only had the promise of BBC dates.

In boxing promises are the standard currency of the sport's losers but that was eight months ago and the Saturday before Christmas Froch fought for the fifth time and so far all of his fights have been screened on the BBC. On 28 January he fights on another Hennessy show, another BBC night, in his hometown of Nottingham for the first time as a pro at the Ice Rink.

So far Froch had done exactly what he wants in the ring against the A-list of the sport's most notorious losers and as each of the selected men have fallen they have added their praise. However, even without the testimony of the beaten men it is impossible for anybody connected with the business of boxing to ignore the promise that Froch has shown.

At a time of carefully packaged fighters, where the provision of willing dummies can boost records to ridiculous proportions, Froch has emerged as a truly dangerous fighter. His ring presence and timing have marked him as being truly special and the one-punch, first round knockout of Midlands champion Mike Duffield in his last fight was simply chilling. There was no wild endless flapping, just a short right on the spot that dropped Duffield for the count.

Froch actually walked away from the sport when he was 16 after about 40 bouts as a junior because his mother, Carol, took over a pub in Newark. At 19 his father, Frank, persuaded him to get back in the gym. His parents are divorced but they still sit together when he fights.

He returned to the Phoenix club under coach Dale McPhilbin and reached three ABA finals, winning two, and came close to qualifying for the Sydney Olympics. His failure to secure a place on the Olympic team was extremely controversial and very nearly led to Froch quitting. Froch was in an Olympic box-off for a final place against a Polish boxer, Pawal Kaketech, at a tournament in Liverpool but Kaketech decided to return to Warsaw. It looked like Froch would get the last European berth at middleweight but another date for the box-off was announced for a tournament in Venice and Froch lost a 3-2 points decision.

"I would have beaten him in Liverpool and I would have then gone to Sydney and I know that I would have got a medal. I beat a Sydney bronze medallist in Belfast, so I know I would have come back with a medal," said Froch. The only problem that Froch and his matchmaker have is keeping him busy and motivated because even the most dedicated fighter is tempted to trim a bit here and bit there from his training schedule when he sees the name of a well-worn loser opposite his on a poster. Froch is not a baby and if ever there was a prospect crying out for the fast track then it is him. Current British super-featherweight champion Alex Arthur was another and his promoter Frank Warren correctly took him to the British title after 12 easy fights. Froch is 25 now and he can and should progress at the same rate.

He will discover shortly that the hurt in Belfast was not that bad and when he does, Froch, like just a few before him in the last 20 years, is unlikely to fall short.