Joe Calzaghe remains the number one target for the Carl Froch camp following the WBC super-middleweight champion's epic fightback victory over Jermain Taylor on Saturday night. Froch, 31, defended his title for the first time at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut with his 12th-round stoppage of the American. The victory meant he retained the belt vacated by the former undisputed champion when the Welshman moved up to light-heavyweight before retiring following a victory over Roy Jones Jr last November. Despite Calzaghe vowing to stay retired, Froch has maintained his challenges to the former champion and his promoter Mick Hennessy renewed the pressure following the defeat of Taylor. Asked whether a super-middleweight unification fight was on the cards with the Canadian-based Romanian Lucien Bute, Hennessy also threw in the names of current middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and Calzaghe as potential opponents. "Definitely, we'd like to do that fight," Hennessy said of the Bute challenge. "Potentially the Pavlik fight but the one we'd love to do if it's still there is the Calzaghe fight if we could drag him out of retirement. "He avoided Carl when he was WBC champion and we went after that title and when Carl became the mandatory (challenger) he stepped out. "So around that situation he's got a lot to answer for. "He's implied before a few times that if the money was right he would fight again and after that (Froch) win tonight it certainly will be." Hennessy also said Froch's victory would dramatically increase his fighter's profile in the United States, which he claimed was another criteria laid down by Calzaghe. "One of the reasons before from Joe was that Carl wasn't a big enough fighter in America but everyone knows him now, that's for sure." Hennessy maintained that Froch-Calzaghe would be a huge fight in Britain. "They could do 80,000 (tickets) at the Millennium Stadium, absolutely, no problem and with American TV there as well as British. "So Calzaghe, Bute, Pavlik, any of them. Carl's the best super-middleweight bar none." With an epic victory on his record, Froch's response to the question was more belligerent during the post-fight press conference. "It doesn't really matter about Joe Calzaghe, let's get it straight. He's retired, he's finished. "If he comes back, he comes back. I'll smash him the same way I smashed Taylor. "There's plenty of other challengers out here I can fight." Another potential defence could come against American Allan Green, who staked his claim to a world title shot in the near future with a second-round demolition of fellow contender Carlos DeLeon Jr from Puerto Rico to move to 28-1 with the 20th knockout of his career. Also on the undercard, the former IBF light-welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi bounced back from defeat to Ricky Hatton last November with a points win over fellow American Chris Fernandez after eight rounds to move his professional record to 26-2 (5 KOs). * PA Sport
