Carl Froch was roared to victory by the noisy home crowd in Nottingham

Carl Froch admits that his world title win was a hard-fought contest between two athletes at the top of their game.

The Gedling-born boxer beat Canadian Jean Pascal to take the WBC super-middleweight title at Nottingham Arena.

"I put so much into it," Froch told BBC Radio Nottingham. "It was my toughest fight to date but there was no way I was going to let it go.

"Although it was hard, I dominated every round - it was a one-sided affair in terms of scoring."

The 31-year-old, who was awarded the fight 118-110, 117-111, 116-112 by the three judges on Saturday night, is now enjoying the limelight.

"When you've worked so hard for something for so long," he said, "it's nice to be recognised by the national press.

"But now is where the hard work starts because people are going to be gunning for me, so I've got to be ready."

Froch and his promoter Mick Hennessy are now eyeing a clash with Joe Calzaghe.

"It's still possible," said Froch. "It's an addictive sport boxing and Calzaghe's talked about retiring but hasn't yet.

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"I've got the belt that he vacated, so I can definitely entice him in now with a big match.

"I'm the man to beat now, so something will come up as there are plenty of top fighters who are going to want to fight for this WBC title."

Former British and Commonwealth champion Froch is still unbeaten in his 24 pro fights, 19 of which have been knockouts.

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