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Credit to George Groves for managing to get himself into mandatory position for the IBF super middle title that Carl Froch has or we would not be seeing this fight between the two boxers, which takes place this Saturday night in Manchester, England.
Froch would have done exactly what Joe Calzaghe did to him years ago and essentially fobbed Groves off and ignored him.
So straight out of the gate…Froch doesn’t really want this fight, and why would he? Maximum risk, minimum reward.
Now however (thanks to Groves’s attitude) I think he does want this fight, so again, credit to Groves.
I am not sure it is the best thing for Groves to have done but fair play to him; clearly he is trying to wind Froch up and get under his skin.
But wouldn’t it have been better if he was polite, dignified, and respectful in the build-up, so Froch would think little of this young pretender and then on fight night release a monster with a game plan?
Either way it has been great to watch the hostilities, I just don’t think it will do Groves any favours. He is effectively throwing more coal into the locomotive that will be heading his way.
I think Groves is missing a lynchpin; his ex-trainer Adam Booth. And because of this, Groves is screaming to the world ‘I can do it on my own’.
Booth is a master tactician, and I think that could be a key here as to the outcome of the fight.
Groves is a good fighter, very good indeed. He has superb footwork and blistering counter punching ability. He works well to both the head and body and is technically the better boxer of he and Froch.
Friends and colleagues of mine in favour of Groves to pull off the upset will note how he can stick to a game plan for 12 rounds, as demonstrated against James De Gale.
My counter argument is simply that Booth came up with that game plan, he drew it up and made sure Groves trained in a way to beat De Gale.
We are not just talking about what is said in the corner on fight night, it’s the way that the fighter and trainer prepare for the fight and then execute it on the night.
Secondly, James De Gale was incredibly cagey that night against Groves. I mean, it was not a captivating fight, was it? There were several rounds where literally nothing happened because they were trying to draw leads from each other.
In contrast, Froch is not going to hang about with Groves, and yes he is going to get caught coming in, but I cannot see Groves stopping Froch and sooner or later, the pressure will catch up with the challenger.
Froch is the tougher of the two, by far. Yes, he is a bit one dimensional, and he throws himself off balance and his defence is questionable and as much as he talks about levels and how much better he is than George…it’s his teak toughness and his engine that will win him this fight.
If Groves can’t hurt Froch, which I don’t think he can, and he runs out of ideas, which he will as he hasn’t prepared with Booth, then sooner or later Froch gets to him and it is well known that Groves is chinny and Froch hits hard.
That’s it…that’s the summary.
We can analyse until the cows come home, and to be honest, I agree with what Groves says; Froch was outclassed by Andre Ward, and he does struggle with slick boxers. He only just got past Andre Dirrell.
If Groves had Booth as his trainer, I would probably pick him to win. But to me, it’s quite mental that Groves would get rid of such a great playmaker before the biggest fight of his career, as he has never been more in need of a game plan.
Of course, there is the possibility that this has been the ultimate hoax/game plan and Booth actually shows up in Groves’s corner on the night.
Other than that happening, Groves wins the first half of the fight, begins to run out of steam and ideas on how to stop Froch, then Froch takes over and probably stops him.
