By Ian S Palmer
The highly-anticipated rematch between British boxers Carl Froch and George Groves finally arrives on Saturday, May 31 at London, England’s Wembley Stadium. Froch was in trouble in their first meeting, but rebounded back to win a controversial ninth-round stoppage. This bout is for Froch’s IBF and WBA Super World Super Middleweight Championship belts.
The 25-year-old Groves lost his undefeated mark in the first bout and will enter the ring with a still-impressive 19-1 record along with 15 Kos. He’s just a couple of hairs under 6-feet tall and has a 72-inch reach. He’s a former British and Commonwealth Super Middleweight Champion who has good boxing skills as well as better-than-average power to go along with them. He’s beaten James DeGale by majority decision in 2011 and also owns a unanimous decision over former champion Glen Johnson in 2012.
Groves is durable and has good speed, but he’s not the best defensive boxer in the world and isn’t too hard to hit. That was his downfall in the first fight and he’s hoping it doesn’t hurt him again this time around. The 36-year-old Froch comes into the fight with a mark of 32-2 with 23 Kos. He has an inch advantage in height at 6-foot-1 as well as a three-inch reach advantage at 75 inches.
Froch also has good power to go along with his physical and mental toughness. He possesses a good jab and usually shows he has an exceptional chin, but it was severely tested in the first fight with Groves when he was dropped to the canvas in the very first round. Like Groves, Froch isn’t too difficult to hit either and this is why their first contest was so thrilling. He can be outboxed as Mikkel Kessler proved in 2010 and Andre Ward showed again a year later in as they both beat him by unanimous decision.
Perhaps Groves should be looking to box Froch here instead of trying to stop him. He could get hurt himself if he’s looking for the knockout punch. If the knockout comes then so be it, but there’s not really any need to leave yourself open by going toe-to-toe with a power puncher if you can take him on points. That being said, there’s an excellent chance this bout will turn into a slugfest similar to the first outing.
They’re expecting about 80,000 fans at Wembley to take this fight in and as well as it being for Froch’s titles, both men have a lot to prove. Groves feels the first meeting should never have been stopped and wants to show the fans he was robbed while Froch of course is out to put an exclamation point on the first fight by stopping him again.
Prediction
Again we have another very tough fight to call. Groves may have blown his big chance in the first fight by letting Froch off the hook after decking him early. You can bet Froch will be better prepared this time around as he knows exactly how good Groves is and what to expect. It may come down to power and their chins, but Froch seems to have a special will-to-win and this is what should see him take a close decision or late stoppage.
