By Scott Gilfoid: Paddy Fitzpatrick, the trainer for George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s), says that IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) was willing to fight Groves in a smaller venue in Nottingham in order to fight in front of his own fans and avoid fighting in Manchester, where Fitzpatrick says Froch was booed in the past. Fitzpatrick doesn’t like the fact that Froch was willing to fight in a much venue in Nottingham, which seats 30,000 less fans than where they’ll be fighting at on May 31st at the Wembley Stadium in London, UK.
“He would have been over the moon [to have the fight in Nottingham],” Fitzpatrick told the Swindon Advertiser. “He would have kissed Eddie Hearn in French, he would have been that happy. He told Eddie Hearn he did not want to go back to Manchester because ‘they booed me out of the ring’. You’re joking me, so [Carl] you are not going to go back to Manchester, where the venue is 75,000, because the people booed you out of the ring?”
What Fitzpatrick doesn’t seem to realize is that Froch has already made millions in his career, so losing out on little green stuff at this point doesn’t affect him the way it would a younger person who hasn’t made that kind of loot. Froch is probably already set for life, so this is just extra gravy for him from this point on. He can fight Groves a couple of more times, and maybe get fights against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Gennady Golovkin and Andre Ward, and then ride off into the sunset with his golden parachute.
Of course, Groves can possibly spoil Froch’s plans for those other fights if he whips him on May 31st in front of the 80,000 fans that will be jam-packed in the Wembley Arena. In that case, we’ll still see a third fight between Froch and Groves, because Froch will no doubt want to avenge his loss to the 25-year-old Groves.
No way on Earth does Froch let Groves get away with a victory without pushing his promoter Eddie Hearn hard to lock down an immediate rematch against him. I’m not sure if the IBF and WBA sanctioning bodies will let Froch and Groves keep fighting each other like this without insisting that Groves make a title defense or two against the highest ranked contender for the straps like Mikkel Kessler or Brandon Gonzales.
Froch is going to make his money even if the fight were to be staged in a smaller venue, so it’s hardly a big deal for him. It obviously is a big deal for Groves, and I can definitely understand him wanting to get the biggest venue possible in order to maximize the revenue for the fight. You never know what’s going to happen in the fight in terms of what the referee will do or how the judges will score it. I mean, I hope the officials do a good job this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another controversial ending filled with drama.
Comments are closed.