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It is hard to analyse a fight of this magnitude; to try and find an angle or argument that hasn’t already been explored.
I am not complaining, this is a fantastic occasion for British boxing and boxing in general. There have only been a few times in history where the general British public have had an opinion or even openly scrutinized British boxing.
Frank Bruno, Ricky Hatton, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Joe Calzaghe, Barry McGuigan, these are the names permanently attached to boxing and the British public and more often than not, it’s not even for what they do in the ring.
You can now add George Groves and Carl Froch to that list. Froch will already be well known to boxing followers for his performances against Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor, all great wins for ‘The Cobra’ and all great fighters in their own right.
I mean, none of them were like George Groves…and none of them put Froch under that much pressure…or hurt Froch like Groves did, but they had their own style which Froch had to deal with.
Froch could handle their style; Bute was overhyped and crumbled under pressure. Froch had to fight Kessler twice before he got the win there and even then it was always just going to be a war.
Preparing for war is right up Froch’s street. Abraham had power, but no speed…or footwork and Taylor dropped Froch; okay it was more that Carl was off balance than hurt, but the fact remains that when Froch faced a fast boxer/puncher, he got caught making a mistake.
Froch still got the win with a good finish but that was five years ago, he has had many a battle since then, in fact, one might argue that’s where his career really took off and he had his hardest fights since.
Froch doesn’t like fast boxer/punchers, and he shouldn’t, as they always give him trouble. Andre Dirrell, incredibly fast, danced from Froch all night just looking for a win…and he almost got it. Andre Ward, again very fast of hand and foot, very talented boxer, out boxed and even out hustled Froch all night.
The blueprint is there for Groves, he does have the talent to go the distance and he has the fitness. He did go twelve rounds with Glen Johnson, one of the best gatekeepers in the game in my opinion, the man is hard as nails and a fantastic talent gauge.
Groves out boxed him, stuck to the game plan and even dropped him late in the bout, all that in just George’s fifteenth pro fight.
By comparison, when Froch fought Johnson, it was much closer and Carl came nowhere near to dropping him; one judge had the contest a draw.
The highly respected Adam Booth, former trainer of Groves but also friend to Carl Froch, knows how to read the fight game, he is one of the best in the business, and he says Groves lost the first fight because he got too greedy.
Had he decided in the ninth round to get on his bike, stay outside and not engage in a battle, he probably would have taken the decision.
I personally think there is an element of that, but that Groves was gassing out as well. Regardless of the now well disputed stoppage of their last fight, Froch was still going to stop Groves in the following rounds, maybe even the following seconds.
Carl Froch will be looking to take George Groves into the trenches, that’s no secret; he knows he can’t outbox Groves no matter how many times he says he can. His best bet is to engage with Groves early and consistently, and if he does he stands the best chance of stopping him.
This truly is a 50/50 fight, as much as that saying is thrown about. And as torn as I am, as a boxing writer and fan for me its 51% Groves and 49% Froch.
Both learned lessons from fighting each other and both of them took things away from the first fight, both need to box smart, I just think it will be easier for Groves to implement than Froch.
Even if Froch underestimated Groves last time around, I do not think he will be able to adjust even if he trains like a demon and is mentally and physically fit. Groves is young, fresh, talented, powerful, fast and perhaps most importantly, hungry.
