American boxer Bernard Hopkins has said that Carl Froch is "looking for an easy way out" after the Englishman dismissed talk of a fight between the pair.

Froch vacated his IBF belt last week as he decides on his future having been forced to pull out of a fight with Julio Chavez Jr due to an elbow injury.

Reports suggested that a fight between Froch and Hopkins was on the cards, but the 37-year-old described it as a "lose-lose situation".

Hopkins told boxingscene.com: "He says it's a lose-lose situation, but he's in a lose-lose situation if he fights somebody that we know he can beat. I don't think anybody, at least I think, is picking Chavez to beat Carl Froch. Carl Froch is looking for an easy way out.

"Somebody got in his ear and said: 'Don't underestimate Bernard, because Bernard is always good at redeeming himself after a loss and coming back strong'. I'm going to be dead serious, I called his bluff."

Froch has not fought since he beat George Groves in May.