Carl Froch: “I’m looking forward to embarrassing George Groves by flattening him in the rematch.”

14 Submitted by on Fri, 21 February 2014, 13:39

(transcribed by Michael Thompson) I recently had a chance during the 209th edition of “On The Ropes” to speak to IBF super middleweight champion, Carl “The Cobra” Froch. Carl discussed his highly anticipated rematch with George Groves, which has been set for May 31st, and also gave his thoughts on the first encounter that saw one of the more controversial stoppages of 2013. Froch also talked about some of the issues he had leading up to the first fight and how he ultimately finished the fight. Here is what Carl Froch had to say in part 1 of his interview. {copyright – must give full credit to On The Ropes and link to article}

Jenna J: Carl, the news of the week is that you will have a rematch with George Groves, it will be on May 31st. How do you feel about this fight?

Carl Froch: Yeah, very happy. It’s a massive fight in terms of prestige, it’s gonna be probably one of the biggest fights to happen in British boxing in the last ten years believe it or not. So to be involved in a fight of that magnitude is always very pleasing because of the attention it brings to the sport, the sport I love and also it shows where I am with my career and the fact that when I fight, it’s big news.

Obviously George Groves is bringing a lot of the attention himself because he’s done a lot of whinging since our first fight and he’s been to the IBF, the WBA and the BBBOC (British Boxing Board of Control) complaining about it. The IBF have decided to let him fight me again. You know me, I’ll fight anybody, so I’m fighting George Groves again and I’m looking forward to doing a job on him and putting it behind me once and for all.

Jenna J: He had to go to all of these organizations to get the rematch, was this a fight that you truly wanted to have next, or did you want to go in a different direction with a Chavez Jr. or an Andre Ward bout?

Carl Froch: Yeah, there was potential of fighting Chavez Jr. The Andre Ward rematch is not really big news to be honest. Andre Ward, every fight he’s involved in is not really big news these days unfortunately for him.

The Groves fight is that big in Britain, it had to happen really. Once the IBF made him mandatory, I was always gonna fight him because I’d rather fight and defend my title than vacate my title as you know.

Once that decision was made by the IBF, I thought to myself, not only is it the biggest fight, the most lucrative fight for me, it’s also gonna put him behind me once and for all and shut him up because I’m sick of listening to him to be honest. For me it was always gonna be the only fight really, realistically once it got ordered by the IBF.

Jenna J: Carl, a lot has been made of the way Groves went out in the first fight, he even talked to the press and said exactly what he was going to do in the first three rounds and pretty much did it. Looking back at it, were you very surprised by the way that he attacked you early in that fight?

Carl Froch: No, not really. He said he was gonna open with two right hands, he only actually hit me with one (laughs). He did well, you’ve got to give him his credit, he did well he came out and landed the big shot, but I was very poor on the night, very, very poor.

You’ve seen it before in the past, Lennox Lewis got knocked out by Hasim Rahman and Oliver McCall a couple of times and in the rematch he put it right. You see, I got flattened in round one, I got caught with a stupid shot that I walked into and guess what? I still won, I turned the fight around and still got the win, that’s the kind of fighter I am.

I don’t make any secrets about the fact that I got off to a terrible start, George Groves got off to a great start but the rest is history. I won the fight in round nine, technical knock out, very satisfied, retained my belt and now the rematch is happening so I’m looking forward to finally embarrassing him once and for all by flattening him in the rematch.

Jenna J: Carl, you mention that you felt you fought poor an the night. Was there anything leading up to the fight that you feel effected your performance?

Carl Froch: There was a few things, I don’t like whinging and moaning–I’ve got whinging and moaning in my head because I’m talking about George Groves by the way, that’s all he does. I don’t like complaining and making excuses after.

There was a couple of problems, I had an infection in my foot, I couldn’t wear my bloody trainers for two weeks, I missed a couple of runs, I missed my final spars, my elbow was sore, but you know I’m sure George Groves and most fighters have got bad elbows and pains.

The worst thing was I had an infection in my foot from athletes foot that went bad. I should of had antibiotics but my nutritionist advises against having antibiotics, so my foot got infected. It was quite bad, I literally couldn’t wear my boxing boots or my trainers so missed quite a lot of stuff on the closing days of the fight.

The last week or two I missed a few spars, but no excuses, I got hit with a right hand in round one, so regardless what was going on with my foot and the infection I had–yeah the preparation wasn’t ideal in the final stages, I got hit with a right hand, that’s got nothing to do with my bloody foot has it, lets be honest.

The other thing was on the night as well, Scott Quigg, the fight that was on before me, he finished his opponent in a couple of rounds, so I went from having like twenty minutes to warm up to all of a sudden five minutes you’ve got to get ready, but that would of been the same for my opponent anyway. The fight before went quick, I should have been ready and I wasn’t.

I just wanted to get on with it, got in the ring and got warmed up in the ring. I warmed up round one when I got up from the canvas to be honest, but that’s boxing you know. Great champions get put down, even greater champions come back to win, and that’s what I did, so I’m very, very happy with my performance and the way in which the result went for me.

Jenna J: You did come on late in the fight, how do you feel about the way you finished things?

Carl Froch: I thought it was a fantastic turnaround to a really bad night’s work and still came out victorious. You can say what you want about the referee and whether or not he stopped it a few seconds too early, maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, but the fact remains he stopped the fight because George Groves was on the receiving end of some serious punishment in round nine.

I’m renownedly known for finishing like a steam train. So there was another ten minutes left of the fight–round ten, eleven and twelve, the rest of round nine–there is no way Groves would have survived, the fight was over. He’s talked himself and whinged and moaned himself into a big rematch and I’m happy about it because it’s very, very lucrative and I get the lions share of it all.

Not only am I involved in the biggest fight in Britain in the last ten years, I’m also getting a substantial reward financially which isn’t why I’m in the sport, but it’s nice and I’ve got a lot to be happy about and I draw a lot of confidence from that first fight.

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14 Responses to "Carl Froch: “I’m looking forward to embarrassing George Groves by flattening him in the rematch.”"
  1. Michael Kabisch says:

    God, Froch has such a big mouth. When some guys talk, it’s a hype job for promotion. I think Froch believes all his bs. I’d love to see Groves hand him his come up ins..

  2. Ben Smith says:

    Reading that article makes me think what a penis froch is. Looking forward to the rematch and I hope groves wins!

  3. Alan Ramage says:

    Yeah he is a right cock. It was him that got flattened

  4. Neil Stephens says:

    What like he did you in the first one

  5. He’s gonna get embarrassed by Groves again. Just remember what commentators stated in the 1st fight..”this is gettin’ embarrassing for Carl Froch”. This time Groves will stop him inside five.

  6. Neil 'Nez' Vance says:

    Just be a bit gracious that’s all everyone is asking, he got schooled by a younger better fighter at the end if the day and rode his luck

  7. Kurushi says:

    Froch has more options than absolutely anyone at SMW. Yes, he has stated that he would “rather defend a title than lose it” but he hasn’t been forced into shit. Hell, he could take a Kessler 3 fight and make 2 million are you kidding me? I know he’s been a large cunt recently but, c’mon, Froch taking the Groves rematch is an example of exactly what we all like about Froch right? You can’t simply remove any personal responsibility on Froch’s behalf for this fight happening can you?

  8. thehook13 says:

    If Froch had self doubt leading into the last fight then it wont get any better in the rematch.

  9. carlos says:

    love george hes a down to earth kid with great talent

    i was one of the few saying he’d shock the world last time around

    fuck carl froch the stuck up pretencious prick-nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, cal would have murdered him

  10. turbotime says:

    Froch gonna beat him up again.

  11. Kurushi says:

    I’m just glad the fight is happening. Fighters don’t get backed into corners outside of the ring. Loads of fights don’t get made, belts get vacated or stripped and I think there’s a lot of fighters who wouldn’t have taken this fight had they found themselves in a similar position. This fight could easily not have happened but it is and it’s one the fans really want. Good-oh! I can’t bring myself to root against Groves in this one and while Froch has been a large cunt since the last fight I just don’t want him to finish it all on a loss to Groves.

  12. Froch has always been rather obnoxious and hard to like. When he was calling out Calzaghe he came off as very arrogant, so it’s always who he’s been as a fighter. But the fans conveniently forgot about his rather abrasive personality, because of his success and willingness to fight the best at every opportunity. Fact is Froch’s arrogance is actually incredible self belief in himself and his abilities it’s why he is so dangerous late in fights, he always believes he will win in the end no matter how badly he is doing in fights up to that point. It makes him a great fighter to watch but hard to like.

    We’ll see on the 31st May if his belief in himself is once again founded in truth like so many times before or just arrogance.

  13. George Groves is going to be completely ruined, for the reasons i have stated time and time again. He will have success early on due to his stylistic advantages, but for the type of fighter he wants to be..? he is not good enough. Where as Carl Froch, is the best fighter pound for pound in the world at his style of fighting and with his abilities……”In a contrasting fight like this, its the fighter who is best at their style who wins”.

  14. PityTheFool says:

    I know Froch’s stock is low,but he got slaughtered for saying he wanted to fight Chavez instead of Groves again and now he’s taken the fight,he’s still getting pelters.

    GG’s stock has risen and he certainly grabbed my respect,but if Froch KO’d him in the 1st Carl would still get pelters.
    He’s admitted he performed shit and admitted he made a balls of the post fight interview.What the fuck else do people want from him?
    Groves talks like he won the fight but as this is the sport with the most fickle fans,people act like it was Froch’s fault the ref jumped in.
    He got robbed of a fair win as well.