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In the past fortnight, British fight fans are facing the prospect of not just one domestic super fight, but two, which will take place later this year.
As firstly, big talking and big hitting heavyweights David Haye and Tyson Fury have finally signed for what can be only described as the worst kept secret in British boxing, and that is to fight each other in Manchester at the MEN Arena on the 28th September.
The unbeaten Fury puts aside an IBF final eliminator shot against unbeaten Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev which would have won the victor a place in line as mandatory challenger to Wladimir Klitschko .
Following this revelation, the International Boxing Federation have announced that in the Super-Middleweight division, unbeaten Commonwealth champion George Groves has been installed as the mandatory challenger to fight IBF champion Carl Froch.
Froch has stated that he is determined to keep the belt and that he is more than happy than to fight his Matchroom stablemate and former sparring partner, who he has actually dropped in sparring, which he recorded in the diary that he has meticulously kept throughout his decorated professional career.
While his friend Mikkel Kessler maybe also be a possible opponent for Froch for a rubber match at some point in the distant future, it appears that Groves could be a more likely prospect of the two in what would be a very eye catching fight in the British Isles.
The potential Froch-Groves clash would pitch an experienced and proven world champion in Froch, who at 36 is still in fantastic condition and has fought all of the best fighters in a talent rich division in the shape of Kessler, Andre Ward and Lucian Bute amongst others.
While Ward, who defeated Froch in the Super Six, and is the best Super-Middleweight fighter in the world, for all his technical ability and ring craftmanship, it is Froch who is the number one attraction with the two belts, the Sky television deal through his promoter Matchroom Sports and the desire to fight all comers at Super-Middleweight.
Should the Froch-Groves fight go ahead, there would be a lot of evidence to suggest that Froch would go into this domestic showdown as the favourite, with the size advantage, standing at 6ft1 with a 75 inch reach, while Groves stands at only 5ft11 and only has a 72 inch reach.
Froch has the clear advantage in world title experience and quality of opposition faced in his glittering career, while for Groves the only stand out names on his record have been an aging Glencoffe Johnson the for the Commonwealth strap, former amateur rival James DeGale and recent KO victim Noe Gonzalez.
Plus, Groves has had problems with cuts in his career and the psychological disadvantage of being dropped by Froch in sparring, but has the footwork that could give a Froch a few headaches.
But come fight night this writer expects that Froch will look to keep the fight long by using his jab to bank the first four rounds, forcing Groves to open up more resulting in Froch looking to counter punch while keeping his work rate up and going to the body to slow Groves down.
Should the fight go longer. this writer believes that Froch’s superior championship experience will tell and he will either stop a very gallant Groves or takes a dominant points decision.
As for Fury and Haye, Fury has the considerable size advantage of six inches in height and seven in reach as well as a three stone weight advantage, plus being a natural super-sized Heavyweight, while Haye stepped up from Cruiserweight after unifying the division for the more lucrative paydays.
Again, like his former amateur team-mate, Froch, Haye has the superior championship experience and has the edge over Fury in terms of knockout power with an 86% knockout percentage while Fury has a knockout percentage of 71.4%.
In terms of common opponents, they have both fought Dereck Chisora. Fury dethroned Chisora in July 2011 for the British and Commonwealth titles and took Chisora’s unbeaten record in the process.
Haye needed just five rounds to defeat Chisora in their grudge match, which came about following their infamous brawl in Munich after Chisora had fought and delivered a gallant world title challenge against WBC Heavyweight king and mutual target Vitali Klitschko.
After all the talking is done, the styles of Haye and Fury will provide and a potentially explosive fight once the first bell is rung. The smaller and quicker Haye will look to start fast and use his faster feet and quicker hands to back up Fury, who will look to try and keep the fight long behind his powerful and accurate left jab in order to set up his body attack in an attempt to slow Haye down.
However, Haye will also be looking to take advantage of Fury’s low left hand guard, which has been being dropped by the likes of Neven Pajikic and Steve Cunningham, neither of whom possess the fight changing knockout power that Haye carries.
It is a harder fight to pick than Froch and Groves, but it shall deliver the goods.
