Bad stoppage, but Groves would have been stopped

Froch was beyond desperate in that 9th round, it was his last hoorah, bloke was running on empty, I agree Groves may have stopped him in the later rounds, Howard Foster robbed Groves of a great victory and the fans of seeing a great finish to a great fight.

Carl Froch was hurt in every round (including the 9th) the punishment he took Saturday night at 36 years old is gonna have a huge effect on him mentally and physically, I think Groves stops him inside 6 in the rematch.

 

Getting stronger or Groves losing his cool momentarily? Who knows now...

 

Correct...the fight had irrevocably turned in frochs favour.
The fight had come to close quarters, deep waters Groves was being buffeted about like a little boat in a storm, and there was only ever going to be one outcome....
But the judges need to be investigated, big time.

 

People who are screaming for a rematch are in for a long wait in my view.

Team Froch will make Groves wait for another mandatory shot.

 

If Froch does not fight him people will assume that he is wary cause how hurt he was in the fight. This is one rematch he has to take no if's or but's. He secured a legacy but this will put a bad taste in peoples mouth. I dont know if there is a rematch groves win comfortably

 

I think McCracken will have a word with Froch as he has always said he would do.

There are only 2 realistic options.

Either Froch retires or he takes the re-match.

I don't really see how they can sell any other fight.

To say a stoppage for carl was a formality is ******ed at best.

Froch had neither the accuracy nor the energy left to finnish Groves.

Equal probability was that Groves got a second wind and finnished Froch.

IMO Froch had actually been hurt worse in the 9th than Groves was at any stage.

 

'Irrevocably' tuned in his favour? C'mon now, behave.

 

I looked at the fight and there is a case for froch coming on from round 7,8,9.
Its hard to say but i sense it was both fighters getting tired. Froch spent a lot of energy chasing groves and taking some big shots. Groves moving around avoiding froch.

If you look at Frochs fights he can maintain his power and stamina late into a fight.
even the Ward fight his best rounds came late against the best boxer in SMW.

Now i am sure Groves was deteriarting quicker then froch both on empty. But i would edge to froch having a little more in the tank.

Groves mistake was that as he got slightly tired he let the carl close the distance more and got more involved from rounds 7,8,9. He should of kept to his boxing and kept away but due to tiring he got more involved in trading and going to the ropes, as he couldn't move quicker enough. I am convinced with more experience he would of controlled himself more and clinched froch more to nullify any of his work. He should of had the patience and mental strength to remain focused on his game plan. But i don't blame groves.

Now if he kept on the outside more like in the earlier rounds he might of kept froch at bay. HOWEVER, what i was seeing was that as the fight wore on groves snapp of punches wasn't the same and froch was closing distance and landing more. Most of frochs punches miss and the momentum of him rushing in magnify the real impact of the punches (the crowd go wild and judges but the real impact might not be as much). But the ones that do land do have a impact.

Therefore, i am convinced that if groves remained more disciplined and not go to the ropes he would of won the fight and buzzed froch again. froch always comes on late thats his hidden gem. So intelligence/greater fitness etc should be the deciding factors next time for groves.

 

Agree with that. But I still thought Froch lost the seventh and eighth. You can make an argument - as they were close - but he certainly wasn't hurting Groves in those rounds. And I don't think Groves was slowing down.

 

He was getting stronger. He was walking Groves down to the ropes and teeing off. Earlier in the fight Froch, was not having such success with that tactic. By the 9th I think Froch was in a position to lay it on Groves without much coming back.

 

C'mon, he wasn't 'walking him down' - he was still soaking up a lot of punishment; he had some success, but Groves was still winning and didn't seem fazed at all, even in the 7th & 8th. Groves won the 7th and probably nicked the 8th as well.

The 9th was oscillating between the two until the last 30 seconds, when the ref waded in.

 

I know where your coming from, when froch just pats groves the crowd went wild. But when he came rushing in with like 5 punches only 1 would land clean but the momentum of him going forward swinging gives the judges the IMPRESSION they are all landing and rocking the opponent.

I actually think groves had a good call for rounds 7 and 8. As if you look at the round as a whole -he was controlling the tempo, initiating the clean punching and the exchanges had him connect more times then froch did. Froch had his usual solid punches which connected and his momentum magnifys the impact as he follows with more punches.
But for sure he took more clean punches in that round then groves did so i take the approach that he has a better claim for the round?

One thing i cannot understand is HOW MANY TIMES did froch get warnings and no point taken? The ref it seems wanted to give carl every opportunity to get into the fight so wasn't prepared to take a point away from Matchrooms cashcow.

 

Its the first round KD that made Froch look so terrible. You just can't be right after taking such a shot, it was HUGE. It gave his brain a good rattle.

Paddy Fitzpatrick is right when he says Froch needs a very thorough medical before he fights again. I would agree with that totally.

Infact Paddy has said he will have no part in any rematch until Froch is fully medically checked out.

 

There was bits of forearm and all that, but the main 1 in the 8th when the commentators thought it would be a point off, Froch had his back to Groves who was still hitting him, so Froch had a go back. Thought the ref was right in that instance but should have got in there earlier to stop it all.