Carl Froch believes his experience of his epic win over Mikkel Kessler in May will give him the edge when he defends his WBA and IBF World Super Middleweight titles against George Groves at the sold-out Phones 4u Arena in Manchester, live on Sky Sports Box Office on November 23.
Froch defeated Kessler in their titanic rematch at The O2 in front of a capacity crowd in London, and the four-time World champion says he thrives on the sensation of lifting belts in front of a packed out Arena.
“There’s no greater feeling than standing victorious in the Arena, especially in front of a sell-out crowd with 20,000 people cheering your name,” said Froch.
“You’re stood in the middle of that ring, you’re cut and bruised, got a nose bleed but you’re a champion. You’re looking around at a packed house.
“You’ve had 12 weeks in a training camp and you’ve had an unbelievable fight – I’m talking about the Kessler rematch – that sort of feeling, those sorts of nights. Money can’t buy that, there’s nothing else you can do, you can’t go to a fair ground and ride a roller coaster to get that feeling.
“I’m still boxing because of my pure love for the sport. The sport has given me so much, a privileged lifestyle for a start. The feeling of the fight night that I talked about earlier, you can’t get that anywhere, people smoke, gamble and eat lots of chocolate because they are all vices in order to feed a habit or a want. I think I’m addicted to fighting and I’m addicted to fight night.”
Froch and Groves battle it out in Manchester on a fantastic bill stacked full off the cream of British boxing.
Scott Quigg defends his WBA Super Bantamweight title against Diego Silva and his gym-mate and resurgent Lightweight star Anthony Crolla defends his WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight title against Stephen Foster Jr. on a busy night for trainer Joe Gallagher, who also has Super Featherweight champion Stephen Smith on the bill and unbeaten Lightweight talent Scotty Cardle.
There’s also a late spot on the bill for Murray, who is back in action after his controversial loss to Sergio Martinez in his second World title challenge in April. The 31 year old will now face Sergey Khomitsky in Manchester after his December fight in Australia fell through.
Former IBF World Bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell fights in an eight round bout, Rocky Fielding defends his Commonwealth Super Middleweight title and Olympic Gold medal heroes Anthony Joshua MBE and Luke Campbell MBE are both in action in their fourth pro contests, while unbeaten Super Flyweight Kal Yafai continues his comeback from injury.
