Froch comes unglued, shoves Groves during photo shoot at Wembley

By Boxing News - 03/10/2014 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) snapped earlier today and shoved challenger George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) while the two of them were in the midst of some harmless posing for photos at Wembley Stadium to hype their May 31st rematch at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, in London, United Kingdom.

It’s difficult to figure out what got Froch’s kettle on the boil, but he seemed to come unglued when Groves turned towards him during the shooting for what looked to be a face off, except Froch wouldn’t turn around and face him the way fighters are normally supposed to do. Froch stayed facing the photographers while Groves stood there facing him.

The next thing you know it, Froch, without turning towards Groves, gave him an unprovoked hard shove. Groves then said to Froch, “Can you handle it? Why don’t you be professional, for God’s sake.” Froch stood there not saying anything, with smile on his face, looking like the cat that just swallowed the canary. Groves then said to Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn, “Eddie, have a word with your boy.”

Near the end of the photo shoot, Groves confronted Froch to see if he would try another cheap shot shove, but judging by Froch’s body language and stress at being confronted by a now well-prepared Groves, Froch looked like he didn’t want any part of mixing it up with Groves. It wouldn’t have been good for Froch if he had tried any of his shoving tricks at that moment given that Groves has the faster hands. He likely would have nailed Froch first if Froch had tried to shove him again without warning.

I have to wonder if this is going to be a new thing for Froch during media press conferences. Will he be looking to shove or get into a physical fight with Groves each time the two of them get close? If so, then I think Hearn might need to erect a fence or have a wall of security between the two fighters so that Froch doesn’t ruin the rematch by getting into a brawl with Groves that could leave one or both injured. That’s the last thing we need. Froch losing his cool due to the verbal lashing that Groves is giving him and resorting to assaulting him outside of the ring. If this happens again, Hearn might need to think of ways of keeping Froch under control. You can’t tie his hands to his sides, but a good sturdy fence between them might be a good thing to have.

I think Froch might be feeling the stress and dread already of having to go through two months build up with Groves. I mean, Groves seemed to really do a number on Froch outside of the ring during the last month of media build up before their fight last November, and Froch didn’t handle the verbal back and forth with Groves very well.

Besides all the junk that goes on between the two outside of the ring, what’s really important is to have a good referee working the fight, because they can’t afford to have a referee that halts the fight prematurely like last time. That’s not going to work if the referee jumps one of them after the first blow is landed and halts the fight. There needs to be someone that is on the ball, and who also can do his job to keep the fouling in check. I mean, their last fight was filled with fouling from Froch without the referee doing anything to stop it. You might as well have pulled someone from the crowd and gave him the job as the referee, because it pretty much would have amounted to the same. I saw Groves getting nailed with rabbit punches, elbows and hit on the break, all without the referee doing anything in terms of penalizing.



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