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Carl Froch and George Groves had two big fights in 2013 and 2014 — you may have heard of the rematch, it took place in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. But the first one is the one being talked about again, when they met in Manchester.
Groves, unbeaten coming in, was challenging Froch for the WBA and IBF super middleweight titles. The younger man dropped Froch in the first round, and recently told a Sky Sports podcast he thinks he could have finished Froch there if he’d had another minute.
Froch, who was never stopped in his boxing career, says that’s nonsense:
“What else is he going to do? He hit me with loads of shots after that. I went back in swinging like an idiot, missing. He beat me to the punch and hit me with about five or six absolute peaches of punches. He couldn’t have caught me any sweeter after the knockdown, and I was still stood there. ... No, another minute wouldn’t have helped him, because I’m brutal. So tough and strong and I recover quick, I’ve got a granite jaw. I am ‘The Cobra.’”
Froch, who retired after the second fight with a career record of 33-2 (24 KO), famously has quite an ego, but in all honesty, he’s not lying or anything. He really was tough and strong and recovered quickly when hurt. He really did have a great chin.
Froch stopped Groves in the ninth round of that first bout, when referee Howard John Foster made a highly controversial decision to call the fight. The second fight was less debated, as Froch stopped Groves in the eighth with no issue.
We might as well start an over/under on when there are rumors about doing a third Froch-Groves fight, I suppose. The 42-year-old Froch hasn’t fought since 2014, and the 32-year-old Groves (28-4, 20 KO) hasn’t fought since a 2018 loss to Callum Smith, announcing his retirement in Jan. 2019. I’m not saying it’ll happen, mind you, but given how the boxing news cycle has worked lately, I wouldn’t be remotely surprised about rumors coming in soon, or offers being made.