By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is scouring the UK for a big football stadium to stage the Carl Froch vs. George Groves rematch on May 31st. Hearn reportedly wants a stadium that can seat at least 80,000 fans, because he believes that the fight could potentially draw that many. There’s no doubt that a lot of fans will stream in to see the Froch-Groves 2 rematch, but 80,000? I hope Hearn doesn’t get too big of a stadium and end up having to eat the cost if it only sells out halfway.
“This is a huge event,” Hearn said to Sky Sport. “I believe it is the biggest fight in British boxing history and we are looking at crowds of up to 80,000…Over the next week we will be closing off a deal with one of those big venues and securing that football stadium that we need to cater for this fight.”
Instead of worrying about a stadium to house the fight, Hearn should be trying to get a good referee that will be able to resist the temptation to halt the fight prematurely at the first hard blow that’s landed. Goodness knows that last referee Howard John Foster totally blew it by stopping the fight in the 9th round last November when Froch turned billy goat and rammed Groves into the ropes. Groves took a shoulder and bounced off the ropes, and the next thing you know it, Foster has Groves in a headlock and is halting the fight.
Hearn needs to find a referee that not only won’t stop the fight prematurely, but also one that will keep Froch from throwing rabbit punches on the inside like he was doing last November in their fight in Manchester. I lost track of all the times Froch hit Groves with punches to the back of the head while they were in a clinch. I hate to say it, but I think Froch would been disqualified had there been a referee that actually polices that kind of thing. With Froch nailing Groves with rabbit punches and elbows, and hitting on the break, it was anything goes type of fight.
Groves made the mistake of just taking it and playing it clean. Obviously that wasn’t the right tactic for him to have taken. When you’ve got one guy bending the rules round after round, you’ve got to take things into your own hands and Groves failed to do that. Foster looked like a spectator that had found his way into the ring last November, because he should have taken points off Froch. I thought Froch should have lost at least 6 points for the various fouls he made in that fight. Of course, when you get anywhere close to having 6 points taken off for fouls, you usually get disqualified. I think that’s what should have happened.
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