Unified super middleweight titleholder Carl Froch, hopeful of a big Las Vegas fight in the spring against former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., will have to wait a bit longer.
Froch, 37, of England, and admittedly winding down his career, suffered an elbow injury in his recent return to training and announced on Monday that he will be out of action until the summer.
"I'm disappointed to have to let this opportunity go, but at this stage in my career I have to make every fight count," Froch said. "I will get some treatment and then we will look to make this fight or another big fight in the early summer."
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn had been in talks with Chavez adviser Al Haymon about a potential March 28 fight in Las Vegas. Whether the fight could be finalized remained to be seen because Chavez is embroiled in a contract dispute with promoter Top Rank, which has sued Chavez (48-1-1, 32 KOs), 28, in Nevada because it claims he owes the company one more fight.
"We have been deep in negotiations for some time and we were almost ready to go," Hearn said, without going into details on how the Chavez contract issues was being dealt with. "Carl has gone into fights before not 100 percent fit and paid the price, and he has made the right decision to hang fire. We will have a meeting early next week and plan out 2015. I'm confident we will see him back in the ring this summer."
Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) last fought on May 31 when he knocked out rival George Groves in the eighth round to retain his 168-pound titles before a British-record crowd of some 80,000 at Wembley Stadium in London in one of the biggest fights of 2014. Although Froch has had four fights in the United States, he said after beating Groves for the second time that he very much wanted to fight in Las Vegas before retiring.
Besides healing from his injury and figuring out when and whom he will fight next, Froch also has to decide what to do with IBF version of the title. Earlier in January, he was ordered to make a mandatory defense against countryman James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs). If the sides do not make a deal by the end of the month, a purse bid will be ordered. However, with Froch on the shelf and hopeful for a fight in Las Vegas -- where it would make no sense to fight DeGale -- he could vacate the belt.
Froch said he would address the belt situation next week.