Carl Froch produced a comeback for the ages to retain his WBC super-middleweight title with a last-round stoppage of former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in Connecticut on Saturday night.

Englishman Froch got off the canvas in the third round and looked to have been outpointed over the following rounds, trailing on two of the three judge's scorecards by 106-102 before launching a spectacular all-out assault on the American in the 12th round.

That was when he first knocked the former middleweight kingpin to the canvas with Taylor beating the count by the narrowest of margins.

Froch then unleashed another barrage of furious punches that forced referee Michael Ortega to stop the fight with 14 seconds of the contest remaining.

"I backed my intuition that Jermain Taylor was tired," Froch said of his dramatic finale.

"He was badly hurt and not defending himself. He wasn't even looking at me, it was a great decision by the referee.

"McCracken told me and I knew I had to have a big 12th round and I got it.

"Jermain Taylor was world class. This was my first defence in America and the first of my big fights"

The victory in only Froch's second professional fight outside England stretches the 31-year-old's unbeaten record to 25-0 with the 20th knockout of his career and thrilled a 4,000 crowd at the MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods Casino Resort.

For Taylor the defeat, which sends him to a 28-3-1 (17 KOs) record, was a mirror image of his shock knockout to Kelly Pavlik 18 months ago in Atlantic City when he lost his middleweight crown having sent his rival to the floor earlier in the fight.

Despite being the challenger Taylor was the big favourite to strip Froch of a title he had won last December with a unanimous victory over Jean Pascal in his home town of Nottingham.

Taylor also had the majority of the crowd on his side as the fight started amid loud chants of "USA! USA!".

It had the right effect on Taylor who landed a big right hand on Froch's head early in the opening round. Froch was not shaken out of his gameplan, though, and continued to get the measure of the challenger, eventually landing his own right hands inside the final minute.

Both fighters continued to size each other up into the second round with the action coming in short flurries, first the champion being the aggressor, then Taylor until the boxers finally traded right at the end of the round.

Round three saw the pattern continue as the fighters kept each other at arm's length to evade the sporadic advances until the fight opened up with Taylor catching Froch on the chin with his left jab and then knocking the Englishman down with a right hook for the first time in his career with 40 second left on the clock

Froch beat the count but looked shaky and will have been relieved to have heard the bell signal the end of the round.

"I didn't see that coming," Froch said of his visit to the canvas. "He hit me with two right hands and I didn't see them coming.

"I'm all right, that's boxing. I got my composure, I took the eight count."

Taylor believed he had the fight won there, saying: "I thought to myself 'I'll take my time and be smart'. I trained my hardest, he just stayed with it and he got it."

Froch made use of the break between rounds, starting the fourth round in much more positive fashion, although Taylor continued to look comfortable and finished the round by landing another left jab on the champion's chin.

Froch admitted before the fight he had taken too many punches to the head from Pascal last time out and the same was happening again here as Taylor breached the defences regularly during the fifth.

The Englishman was making very little progress but again the round ended in a flurry that this time continued after the bell before referee Michael Ortega separated the rivals.

Froch landed to Taylor's head in the sixth during an exchange and though the American countered with a clean jab it was the champion who finally looked as if he was gaining an edge.

The seventh saw the Froch comeback continue as he began to get his jab working again, not that Taylor looked troubled, the American managing to land his own straight left to the chin and restore some balance to the round.

Froch was undeterred, though, and resumed the aggression in round eight, halting Taylor in his tracks with a combination that ended with a strong left hook to the head.

Taylor, though, finished the round much the stronger, unleashing a right hand to Froch's head and closing with a big left upper cut followed by a left and a right hook before taunting his rival after the bell with an aggressive wave of his right glove as Froch retreated to his corner.

The next two rounds were relatively quiet but the fight reignited in the 11th and penultimate round as Froch went in search of the knockout that had become a necessity to win the fight.

Everything Froch gave, though, Taylor managed to counter and although the Englishman won the round it appeared too little too late.

Then, though, came the climactic 12th round. Froch had Taylor in trouble for the first time and he made it count in spectacular fashion.

Two right hands between Taylor's guard had the challenger down in the corner of the ring and he did well to get up as Ortega's 10 fingers went up.

Froch wasn't done, though, and the job was finished in style.