Froch ordered by IBF to give Groves a rematch; Hearn says it doen’t change anything

By Boxing News - 01/24/2014 - Comments

froch673By Scott Gilfoid: In what could ultimately mean little, the IBF has ordered IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch to give George Groves a rematch within the next three months [90 days] for him to keep his IBB 168 lb. strap. But Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn is saying that the IBF’s order doesn’t change the options that Froch has on the table for his next fight. They’d like to see Froch fight former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the States on pay-per-view and that’s the fight that they’re looking to make right now.

Hearn said on his twitter site: “More updates..IBF call for rematch for Froch v Groves..doesn’t change much re CF’s options but still hopeful of agreeing terms with GG.”

Groves have been given a 7-figure offer to fight Froch, but he rejected the offer, and he’s waiting to see if they’ll give him a better offer. As such, it’s possible that Froch could fight Groves again within the next three months if Hearn and Froch are serious about the fight. But it’s definitely not a good sign that the offer was turned down by Groves. It suggests to me that they’re not serious about the fight, and are only willing to take it if they can get Groves to agree to something so low that it would make it a better fight financially than the Chavez Jr. fight. Just imagine if they could get Groves to say yes to a 1 million pound offer, while keeping the other 9 million pounds that the fight brings in.

Groves said on his twitter “Oh Dear! IBF order IMMEDIATE rematch with me and @Carl_Froch … Maybe I was right after all turning down that ‘amazing’ 7 figure offer haha. Now everyone understands @Carl_Froch press release today.. Wants to move on? Hold on honey IBF says #NoNoNo #RematchOrVacate haha.”

I’d be very surprised if the Groves-Froch rematch happens now. I think Groves will only get the fight if he’s willing to accept a bottom rate offer and Froch gets the lion’s share of the financial pot.

Groves can always scoop up the IBF title once Froch is stripped of the belt by the IBF for failing to fight him again. The IBF has ranked some God awful contenders in their top 15, so Groves will be pretty much abl to pick up the vacant strap just by showing up at ringside to whip the token contender the IBF has ranked.



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