I posted this in General, but I think it may have more interested eyes here. Here are some facts about the fight, for those of you who forgot, or have not watched the first one. I tried to be as unbiased as possible, although full disclosure, I think it was a VERY premature stoppage. Froch came out very slow, he looked better as the fight continued. Groves won while boxing and in exchanges early. Groves was going for the knockout, potentially using up his gas tank. Frochs face was relatively unmarked, while Groves was under both eyes. The Ref allowed many hits during and after the break from Froch. Groves seemed to be hurt by Froch after round 6. Groves was not knock down, Froch was knocked down in the First. The "punch" that knocked Groves into the ropes for the stoppage didn't land, it was Frochs body that pushed Groves into the ropes. Groves was throwing punches back, and taking steps forward, towards Froch, away from the ropes.
Hmmm. A few amendments: Froch was at least equally damaged by the end of the fight, his mouth in particular. Groves had panda eyes but that may well have been from the heel of Froch glove when he pushed his head back in the corner. The holding and hitting may also have contributed to the black eyes, but black eyes happen pretty easily.
I do think that Groves was starting to tire pretty heavily in there after say Round 6, but he was so far in front that it was kind of comical - I had George up by 5-6 Rounds by the time the 9th rolled around. But another round and Groves was a goner, IMHO. His output was decreasing a lot as was the effect that those shots were having on Carl, and Carl was going through the gears by then and his head was clearing. Froch looked VERY hesitant when throwing punches. It was like watching the new kid sparring for the first time and he doesn't want to get hit at all. Groves's counter-punching can do some serious damage in the rematch. Groves can win the rematch with the same tactics that won him the Degale fight, IMO. Froch wants to hope that he hasn't overtrained and that the effects of the first fight haven't had a big effect on his punch resistance because if either one has happened, George has an easy nights work in front of him.
Froch is a borderline MMA fighter elbows forearm smashes and shoulder barges in that fight. He caught Groves with a big swinging right hand near the end just before he ran into him with his shoulder that had Groves Rocked, he maybe should have went to his knee.
I remember scoring the fight almost identical to two of the judges on the night, with Groves a round up going into the 9th. Having watched it again the other night, for the first time, I think Groves should probably have been atleast a further round or two up. A lot of Groves work was sharp, jabs were good and he wasn't taking many big punches back. He was running on empty towards the end though and it will be interesting to see if he adopts the same tactics in this fight. Whether or not he would have got stopped in the later rounds, we will never know. I see the fight going similar to the first, Groves having some success early on, with Froch taking over towards middle/late round and likely forcing a stoppage.
Watching it again just made be want to see groves win this time as do feel foster was pretty terrible even without the stoppage, really hope da 2nd fight is as good as the 1st n we see no bull**** stoppage or scoring 4 whoever wins
I think Froch again is going to be hesitant. Granite chin he has but nobody likes to be nailed and I think his going to be very worried about Groves quick counters.
Froch has to establish his jab right from the off or he will suffer again. They will try and use Kessler rematch tactics, but maybe GG has too much with handspeed and footwork to fall down that path. Its the only change Froch can make to change the fight from the first.
I think Froch struggles to do that with Groves superior handspeed and footwork. I think he will defiantly try and get his jab working but can see Froch getting stuck too often as he doesnt have the footwork to not be stuck in the same place too often.
I agree... so with that in mind, and having watched CF all these years... what can he actually do differently to change the way the fight pans out? He took a beating and got saved by a poor ref first time out... unlikely this time. I think this will just be a complete tear up from the off... Hagler Hearns. One will be gone within 12 minutes.
Prior to the first fight a lot of people felt Groves shouldn't have even been in there with Froch. He gave him a fair pasting and rightly won a lot of respect, however it's easy to get carried away with things and feel he completely obliterated Froch, which he did not. Groves won practically every round yes, but Froch was in there landing shots of his and bullying Groves at times with his strength. I'm not making any point except for this, it wasn't as one sided as many people now believe it was. That was a competitive enough fight with a clear winner in each round. My question is this, can Groves withstand such a gruelling battle the way we know Froch can? Froch was coming on strong and getting stronger, Groves seemed to be tiring and as his face told us, he took a few good shots. There's no way of knowing how the remainder of the fight would have panned out, but if Groves didn't get on his bike for the last 3 rounds I think he would have been stopped on his feet anyway.
People saying Groves was running on empty... re-watch the 9th round and he won the first minute of it before with just under 2 minutes left got hit with a right hand which for the next 30 or secs or so Froch went on to have his main success. Froch was also a tired man.
This. I think it was ended way too soon to guess Groves was on his last legs. I dont think that can be determined without seeing how Groves would of started round 10 after 1 min rest in the corner and a chance to regather.
Some good posts I don't know how you lot score fights but In terms of clean punches landed then groves won 7 rounds easy