Groves doubts Froch will recover mentally from loss to him

By Boxing News - 11/19/2013 - Comments

froch332By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (19-0, 15 KO’s) believes that IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (31-2, 22 KO’s) will be able to recover physically after a loss to him this Saturday night in Manchester, UK, but Groves has serious doubts whether Froch will ever recover mentally and emotionally from the loss. He feels that will be the biggest problem for the 36-year-old Froch moving forward with his career after Saturday night.

Groves sees it being difficult for Froch to come to terms with being beaten by a younger fighter from the UK rather than from somewhere else in the world. In other words, Froch will no longer be the big fish in a small pond like he is now. He’ll be second best in the UK after Saturday night and Groves sees that as being mentally a tough pill for the legacy conscious Froch to swallow.

Groves said to Sky Sports “Physically maybe he can come back at 36, maybe not, but mentally and emotionally I can’t see it…Come Saturday night, he’s going to lose and he’s going to lose to a 19-0 young British fighter. Not a fighter from overseas. He’s going to have to live in the UK, knowing that a British fighter has come and beaten him.”

I totally agree with Groves about his assessment of Froch’s future. I think it’s going to be too tough for Froch to digest the fact that he’s no longer the top dog in the UK and that he was beaten by a younger fighter that he seemingly despises with his whole being. Froch may not hate Groves, but he’s got to be the closest thing to that right now. It’s going to be incredibly tough for Froch to be able to accept that he’s #2 in the UK behind Groves, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s forever haunted by this.

Will Froch be able mentally accept that he was beaten by the much younger Groves and go about as usual in Nottingham as if nothing has changed? I doubt it. I see this loss really sticking in Froch’s craw for ages to the point where he’ll be training night and day to try and get to some point where he find peace of mind. And, of course, Froch will likely be on his promoter Eddie Hearn’s case to try and line up an instant rematch with Groves so that he can try and avenge the loss. The worse thing that Groves could do is move on and fight some other guys for a year or so and leave Froch hanging in exquisite, pain thinking about the loss night and day, relieving it constantly.



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