BRITISH and Comonwealth super-middleweight champion Carl Froch is already looking ahead to his next defence against Ulsterman Brian Magee after accepting a domestic showdown with Joe Calzaghe is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Froch became the first fighter to stop South African Ruben Groenewald when he successfully defended his Commonwealth belt with a fifth-round stoppage in front of his hometown crowd at the Nottingham Arena last night.

And after passing his latest test, the 28-year-old is looking forward to taking on mandatory challenger Magee - a fighter he rates as "European level" - before moving on to bigger things.

Froch started slowly but quickly warmed up to overwhelm Groenewald with his trademark accurate, intense punching, proving he has successfully recovered from a hand injury which required surgery in the summer.

"I said before I went in there I want to put a performance in, put a show on and show people what I can do. But still, in the back of my mind, I had to be careful with my right hand. But as you could see it was okay.

"He was a proud warrior, he was tough and he was strong and he came in and threw some big hooks, he was trying to do some serious damage."

Next for Froch is a defence against Magee after Calzaghe's lucrative showdown with American Jeff Lacy was rubber-stamped for next year.

"Calzaghe, to be fair, is on the top of his game. He has been around, had 30-odd fights and wants a big pay-day and he is at top-of-the-world level.

"I would love to fight Calzaghe, I really would. But realistically, in the short-term, it is probably not going to happen, especially now there is talk of him stepping up to light-heavyweight."

"My next fight is the mandatory against Brian Magee and he is European level. He just lost out on points to Vitali Tsypko which I heard was a hometown decision.

"I want to go to the top, I want to be world champion and fight Jeff Lacy and Joe Calzaghe, the best in the world. And I want respect from the top guys. So I will not be taking Magee lightly but I also won't be taking him as a big, great fight.

"Every fight for me is a world title fight because if you get beaten you go down the snake rather than up the ladders to the top."