Team Froch upset over crowd's booing after Groves fight

After being booed following a November 23 win over George Groves that most considered a sadly early stoppage by referee Howard Foster, Team Froch and trainer Rob McCracken in particular have voiced displeasure with boxing fans for booing Froch during the post-fight, particularly during his interview ringside with Sky Sports.

McCracken says that Froch's comeback effort deserved a better reception:

"To stage a comeback like Carl did, albeit that the referee jumped in two or three seconds early, and to get booed out of the ring is a really poor show. We are kind of stewing from that. It was very disappointing considering all that he's achieved in his career, all the fighters that he has beaten and also the memorable comeback he had on Saturday."

Froch (32-2, 23 KO) did stage a memorable comeback in the fight, and may well have been on his way to a rousing stoppage victory over his younger, seemingly more hungry foe, but that's part of the issue boxing fans have with the stoppage. Everyone was potentially robbed of a better ending -- the fans, Groves, and even Froch.

Plus, I don't think the boos had anything to do with Froch's effort, but more with the way he spoke of the stoppage in the post-fight interview. Now on that count, Team Froch are in a position to feel quite righteous. Carl was in there, the referee was in there, and we were not. The referee is trained to make those calls. That doesn't mean he got it right, but he's trained to make those calls.

It's a weird situation overall, I think. Froch is one of the biggest egos in boxing, and he may actually be totally unaware of how he comes off. I'm not saying Froch isn't likable. He is, really. He's a tough, throwback sort of fighter who faces top opposition consistently and can never be counted out in a fight, as we've seen in the past against Jermain Taylor, and even here with Groves, where he did pull himself up by the bootstraps and storm back into the fight.

But Froch spent all of the pre-fight build complaining that Groves was arrogant, stupid, childish, immature, and disrespectful. When pressed for examples of this, Froch seemed to have little to cite. And when that angle didn't go over so wonderfully, he was left in a bad spot after that kind of stoppage, because he just kept saying that Groves had been stupid and childish, and Groves sat there and just listened to it moments after being, in his mind at least, robbed blind of a possible career-defining win, while Froch ambled on and on defending the stoppage and continuing to blast Groves on a more personal level than Groves ever did Froch.

I'm not telling you to dislike Carl Froch. I don't. I quite enjoy Carl Froch. I think he's one of the best interviews in the sport, I think it's a good thing that he speaks his mind, but he's going to have moments where that backfires a bit. This is one of them. I don't think anyone booed the effort of Carl Froch. I think they booed the stoppage by Foster, and then the way that Froch conducted himself verbally, as he set out immediately to defend Foster at all costs. He was himself in a bit of a no-win situation there, Froch was. All the more reason to have wished we'd gotten a better ending.