Groves will be back, haha pull the other one.

[whiskey]

I think Bika would be the wrong fight for Groves next if I'm honest. Bika is a tough nut, wild and unorthodox. His mind games wouldn't even be understood by Groves.

He keeps coming until the last second - and that's not the type of fighter Groves needs any time soon after last night. Perhaps in 2015 if he still has a belt.

[hurlock]

Froch was getting to groves & it was man v boy simple as. Groves looked very dangerous early & froch struggles with his speed badly! Groves didn't capitalise on his strengths & got his tactics wrong! Or maybe froch didn't allow him to fight his way??

[Bricks]

Froch has a plan b and c.his power and skills have always been underestimated by most except me.I predicted a 9th round ko so was close.Mark my words Froch had a off nite against ward.a rematch would be very close.

[lefty]

Froch was getting to groves & it was man v boy simple as. Groves looked very dangerous early & froch struggles with his speed badly! Groves didn't capitalise on his strengths & got his tactics wrong! Or maybe froch didn't allow him to fight his way??

Nothing to do with getting his tactics wrong.

[SMALL AXE1]

Froch looked scared ( as usual when facing Groves) and did well to win in the manner he did.
Nice small ring helped, but Degale outpoints him.

[SMALL AXE1]

George made 1 mistake, and paid for it, that's it.

55/45 fight in George favour until the stoppage.

[SMALL AXE1]

George is a millionaire, he can get himself a nice Bentley and big house in the country AND come back and earn more money and get a World Title!

I would pick him against Bika for a start and AA.

[ttornado]

55/45 fight in George favour until the stoppage.

was actually 2:1 in favour of Froch.

[SMALL AXE1]

55/45 fight in George favour until the stoppage.

was actually 2:1 in favour of Froch.

In the fight last night.

[hurlock]

Froch was getting to groves & it was man v boy simple as. Groves looked very dangerous early & froch struggles with his speed badly! Groves didn't capitalise on his strengths & got his tactics wrong! Or maybe froch didn't allow him to fight his way??

Nothing to do with getting his tactics wrong.

So are you saying groves fought the right fight

[mickey1975]

Abraham was outstanding against Dirrell? Are you mental? I'll forgive you as you've had a brilliant weekend.

[lefty]

Froch was getting to groves & it was man v boy simple as. Groves looked very dangerous early & froch struggles with his speed badly! Groves didn't capitalise on his strengths & got his tactics wrong! Or maybe froch didn't allow him to fight his way??

Nothing to do with getting his tactics wrong.

So are you saying groves fought the right fight

Yeah I am. He was boxing more intelligently in this fight but got flattened when Froch eventually lined him up.

[ttornado]

55/45 fight in George favour until the stoppage.

was actually 2:1 in favour of Froch.

In the fight last night.

yeah judges last night had it 2:1 for Froch

[jeej]

Don't be stupid, he's a talented kid, fast, hard counter puncher. For about 16 rounds he gave Froch hell, i'd go as far as to say he gave him a lesson in spots.

Groves problem for me is the lack of conviction in a particular style. He should be far more defensive, and focus on his defence. His counters and overhand rights come naturally, he shouldn't even think about them, he needs to rebuild his entire game around his defence like Klitchko did after Brewster, and he'll develop a style where he's hell to break down and where KO's come naturally.

^THIS.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Hard for anyone to say with confidence how Groves will do on his return. You can point to fighters who were never the same again but also others who bounced back. He just needs an easy rebuild and see what happens.

[Counter-puncher]

What was Froch's plan B? He seemed to fight his usual fight to me.

Yeah I agree. I saw no way in hell he could not get clattered by Groves at least a few times. That fight must have been the lowest number of shots Carl froch has ever had to take in a bout. He was due one like it!

Of course Groves will be back. Seen any number of fighters dropped heavily and still go on to produce brilliant performances.

What amazed me is that a fighter of Groves' obvious ability and considerable years boxing is doing getting caught off guard like that and with his left hand nowhere remotely close to his chin. He'll come again tho. I've just read a line in yesterday's paper where Barry Mcguigan said Groves' problem was lack of experience in very big fights. Exactly what I said last night - only difference is McGuigan called it beforehand (he said Froch in 10, 11 or 12 btw).

he was throwing a counter left hook, thats why his left hand wasn't by his chin

baffling post-fight 'analysis' by Watt, on that score; he talked about Groves 'turning away from the punch' FFS he was trying to turn into throwing a counter-left

[hurlock]

Moving around throwing little & not committing to attacks ain't intelligent!!! He was bloody losing!

I thought it was clear to see groves was gun shy & the last stoppage obviously had a bearing on this performance & mr foster was right

[Horse]

Moving around throwing little & not committing to attacks ain't intelligent!!! He was bloody losing!

I thought it was clear to see groves was gun shy & the last stoppage obviously had a bearing on this performance & mr foster was right

No.

[lefty]

Moving around throwing little & not committing to attacks ain't intelligent!!! He was bloody losing!

I thought it was clear to see groves was gun shy & the last stoppage obviously had a bearing on this performance & mr foster was right

Well he could of gotten more aggressive like you would of liked and walked into something in the process.

[Counter-puncher]

don't be silly lefty, boxing is always a very simple matter of 'he didn't do X or Y enough, if he'd have done X he'd have won'.

i thought you'd been on here long enough to have learned that by now

[lefty]

don't be silly lefty, boxing is always a very simple matter of 'he didn't do X or Y enough, if he'd have done X he'd have won'.

i thought you'd been on here long enough to have learned that by now

[hurlock]

I think his tactics were spot on first time round! He got ring centre & out jabbed carl & made him pay when he missed & had carl circling off. Even in the second fight you could see the effect of groves speed on froch & he never capitalised as froch was tentative & groves holding back, which in turn let carl get his jab going & warm into the fight a lot quicker.

[n1ebf]

I think his tactics were spot on first time round! He got ring centre & out jabbed carl & made him pay when he missed & had carl circling off. Even in the second fight you could see the effect of groves speed on froch & he never capitalised as froch was tentative & groves holding back, which in turn let carl get his jab going & warm into the fight a lot quicker.

sadly I feel that this is correct. It was visible very early in the fight too. I thought he and Hat-man might have got it punch-perfect in the second fight. I expected considerably less drama and for Groves to pot-shot his way to victory. Tho not stronger, I believed he would have learnt that he was too fleet of foot for Froch.
And by the way.......CP will say I'm stating the obvious no doubt ....(without having watched a replay yet) that right hand was pretty much all that set them apart, and it came for Froch. I wouldn't have been all that surprised if Groves had produced one similar to it.

(colombo, can you see what I've done there with the bold thing? It's have mate, not of. It's every day now mate, 6 or 7 times and you've started dropping it twice in the same sentences I've noticed, enough's enough now )

[Finn]

What was Froch's plan B? He seemed to fight his usual fight to me.

Much more disciplined, more use of the jab, actually standing and having a tactical boxing match with Groves. Pretty much the exact opposite gameplan of the first fight. You want any more?

He didn't fight a different fight, he was just more patient. It was the same Carl Froch we see regularly. His jab was better too, but is that a plan b? Really?

His plan b was to jump all over groves if he needed to, thats a valid plan imo.

You could tell which fighter really believed they were winning the first fight by the tactics they adopted. Groves completely changed his tactics and held back in the early rounds im assuming partly avoid gassing. Where as froch just did what he did in the first fight with a lot more focus, better conditioning and a better defense.

Groves team picked completely the wrong tactics.

[Ian1973]

Groves team picked completely the wrong tactics.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Groves was winning the first fight and there was little in the second fight, the fights were just a tale of two punches. Groves put Froch down in the first fight but the bell saved him, Froch put Groves down in the second and Groves was unable to continue.

Tactically I thought Groves had got it right second fight, just quietly picking up points saving energy so he didn't gass in the latter rounds.