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Carl Froch and George Groves are set to square off in a huge rematch at Wembley Stadium on May 31, which was made 100% official yesterday at a press conference held by Matchroom Boxing. The fight will be seen on Sky Box Office in the UK as well as HBO in the United States, and should rank up there with the biggest events of the boxing year in 2014.
Froch (32-2, 23 KO) and Groves (19-1, 15 KO) were looking headed to Froch's hometown of Nottingham, but Froch says that had people believing he wanted a home field advantage. So instead, he's going to London and the biggest venue possible (the latter probably had more to do with it than Froch's quest to prove that small number of skeptics wrong).
Froch also says he's heard enough of the "excuses" from Groves and his supporters:
"When we announced that we were looking at Nottingham venues, there were a few people complaining about me having hometown advantage. I didn't like that because the job I'm going to do on George Groves is going to be so conclusive, I don't want anyone to say, ‘Oh ,you had the crowd'.
"I don't want any excuses or whinging. I'm sick to death of it to the point I don't want to fight in Nottingham. I'm happy to fight George in his back yard in London and that says a lot."
I like Carl Froch because he never gives anyone time to decide whether or not he deserves credit for a win or for some decision he made. As he does here, he flat out tells you that it "says a lot" about his character, about him as a fighter and man. And the thing is, I think Froch deserves a ton of credit for the sort of career he's had. I just find that little bit of manipulation he pulls frequently to be amusing, in a good way. Froch is not a "humble" fighter, nor has he ever made claim to being one.