Groves wants British Boxing Board to overturn his defeat to Froch

By Boxing News - 02/03/2014 - Comments

groves02020By Scott Gilfoid: Super middleweight contender George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) is appealing to the British Boxing Board of Control (BBB of C) to try and have his 9th round stoppage loss to IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch overturned and ruled a no contest due to the referee Howard John Foster halting the fight in what he feels was prematurely. Groves and Froch fought last November 23rd in Manchester, UK.

Groves dominated the first 7 rounds, but he was slightly hurt from a wild right hand from Froch in the 9th. At that point, Froch bum rushed him and threw a flurry of shots with almost every punch missing. Referee Howard John Foster then jumped on Groves, putting him in a head lock and stopping the fight.

In the meantime, Froch nailed Groves twice while he was defenseless while being held by the neck by Foster. You can make an argument that those two late punches by Froch should have resulted in a no contest. How on Earth could Froch not have known that the fight was being halted when Foster had Groves in a headlock in a bent over position? Foster should have turned around and disqualified Froch right there, because that was totally uncalled for.

“I can’t count my last fight against Froch as a defeat as I clearly don’t accept the result and neither, judging by the fact that they have ordered Froch to fight me next up, do the International Boxing Federation,” Groves said . “Only the British Board as the host Board for the previous fight can make that judgement but I’m hoping all the evidence will make them declare it null and void.”

I totally agree with Groves in his desire to get the BBB of C to overturn his loss. They should rule it a no contest for sure. However, I don’t think that’s going to erase Groves’ loss in terms of the IBF. They’ll still see it as a defeat, and that’s where the problem is. That defeat won’t go away just because the BBB of C says it’s a no contest.

Groves is still in a rotten position due to the IBF’s ruling that he can only get 15% of the purse in a rematch with Froch instead of 25% for mandatory challenger. I mean, the IBF ordered Froch to give Groves an immediate rematch within 90 days after Groves appealed to the IBF to force Froch to fight him again, but with Groves ranked only #6 by the IBF instead of #1, it means that Groves can only get 15% of the purse for the rematch. That’s next to nothing when you consider that Froch will be getting the other 85% of the purse for a fight that could generate 10 million pounds. If I were Groves, I would livid about it, because without him, Froch wouldn’t be able to get nearly as much interest for his next fight.

If Groves accepts the 15 percent purse split, then he can always make a lot more money if he whips Froch in his future fights. Of course, there’s no telling whether Froch would want to fight Groves in a third fight if he gets beaten by him in their rematch. Froch might choose to retire instead, and Groves would miss out on getting a huge payday with a fairer purse split closer to 50-50, which is arguably what it should be for his next fight.