Nottingham puncher Carl Froch enjoyed a stellar career as a professional boxer.

Widely recognised as being one of the toughest fighters of his era, he achieved considerable success towards the back end of his career in becoming a three-time world champion at super-middleweight.

By his retirement in 2015, he had amassed 33 victories from his 35 fights, and has taken to a new role as a boxing analyst and commentator for Sky Sports with much enthusiasm.

Speaking at the partypoker MILLIONS event in Nottingham, ‘the Cobra’ expressed his delight at the current state of British boxing, as per The Sun.

"Boxing as a sport does go through peaks and troughs depending on who is champion and who is catching the public’s attention”, Froch explained.

“It almost feels like since I retired and since the Wembley fight [against George Groves in 2014] boxing has gone from strength to strength.

“We’re right in the public eye – especially with what Joshua’s doing.

“We’ve got more world champions than we’ve had in years. Although we’ve lost a couple of titles with Anthony Crolla and Ricky Burns, we’re still doing really well as a nation.”

Yet, despite the current strength of the sport in Britain, and the recent return of old rival Mikkel Kessler, Froch is confident that he could still dominate his division if he returned to the ring.

“In my heart I believe I could beat any of the current super-middleweights”, he claimed bullishly.

“I’m a fighter and I look at the current crop and think if I came back I wouldn’t be worried about facing anyone.”

However, having discussed the viability of a return with his long-term coach Rob McCracken, Froch has decided to suppress his urge to compete once more.

He admitted, “As much as I love the sport, I’ve got to be realistic. I turn 40 in July and I’ve been out of the ring three years. I’ve always listened to my coach so I will stay retired.”

"It’s a great sport to be involved in, it’s great for me to be by the side of the canvas commentating and getting my boxing fix. It keeps me out of the ring.

Do you think Froch could still compete after a three-year absence? Have your say in the comments section below!