The View From V2 Magazine April 2014 | Page 14

MONTHLY PUNCH

FROCH

36

NOTTINGHAM UK

6FT 1

75

ORTHODOX

32

2

0

23

240

TALE OF THE TAPE

AGE

FROM

HEIGHT

REACH

STANCE

WINS

LOSSES

DRAWS

KO'S

ROUNDS BOXED

GROVES

26

LONDON UK

5ft 11 1/2

72

Orthodox

19

1

0

15

104

BY PAUL HAMPTON

We are under one month away from the biggest fight in British boxing in the last ten years. Carl Froch (32-2, 23kos) will once again defend his IBF and WBA Super World Super Middleweight titles against Londoner George Groves (19-1 15kos) at Wembley Stadium.

The fight in November ended in controversial circumstances but one thing was certain, Carl Froch had dragged his opponent in to his kind of fight. Groves had started to slow down, and was being forced to stand in front of one of the hardest punchers in the Super Middleweight division.

This time tactics will be key; Groves has to ensure that he doesn’t tire again. With the style he uses that will be difficult as everything is based on movement, instead of blocking punches he evades them, moving his whole body in the process. This is not a bad tactic, but it is an energy sapping one.

Froch on the other hand must realize that he cannot start the same way, in their first encounter he was flat footed and walked in to countless right hands. If Froch were to attack from the start, and force the pace the likelihood is that he would get to his opponent earlier, however he also runs the risk of taking more right hands and getting hurt and dropped again in the process.

So far the build-up has been dominated by the push at the initial press conference, well the push and George Groves completing a Rubik’s cube. The talk that happened before the first fight has been mainly kept to social media, and the use of the slogan “Are You Team Cobra, Or Team Mongoose?” has certainly generated some debate.

When they met for the press conference, here’s what Groves had to say;