By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is excited at the thought of selling out the Wembley Stadium on May 31st in Froch’s rematch against George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’) in London, UK. Hearn is so confident that the Froch-Groves II rematch will do so well that he’s booked the 80,000 seat Wembley Stadium in hopes of filling it to the prime jam packed with paying fans on May 31st. Hearn has a vision thing where he sees the Froch-Groves rematch eclipsing the 57,000 high mark for British boxing set for the 2007 fight between Ricky Hatton and Juan Lazcano.
Something or someone has planted an idea in Hearn’s head to where he thinks that the Froch vs. Groves II fight will fill the Wembley Stadium. I just hope for Hearn’s sake that he doesn’t take a bath on this by renting out more stadium than what he needs for the fight. It would be sad if only 20,000 fans show up for the 80,000 stadium on May 31st. I mean, if it’s all the same to Hearn no matter what number shots up for the fight, then I guess it won’t matter if he doesn’t even come close to filling the stadium. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s going to need a fairly full stadium to cover the costs of renting the place out.
“We need to make a statement and ultimately we need the seats for a fight of this magnitude,” Hearn said to Sky Sports. “Knowing this place is going to be filled with fight fans on May 31st is an incredible feeling…We’re capped at an 80,000 limit. It would mean pretty much a full stadium. People talk about if it is the biggest fight in British boxing history and I believe so. Will it be the biggest live gate? I believe so. Will it attract the biggest revenues? Yes, I believe it will.”
Instead of dreaming so much about the number of fans that will be turning up for the fight, Hearn should be more concerned with hoping that the referee working the fight will do a good job of controlling the action this time and making smart decisions. We can’t have another referee letting rabbit punches be thrown and other fouls like we saw last time Froch and Groves fight.
We also can’t afford to have the referee jump Groves and put him in a head lock if he gets clipped by one of Froch’s shots. It would be a black eye for the sport if a second Froch-Groves fight is stopped prematurely. I supposed they would line up a third fight between, but I think by then fans will have little desire to continue to see them fight due to the controversial endings. I could see diminishing returns in a big way. Anyway, the referee situation should be Hearn’s No.1 concern because he can’t have fans lose interest in seeing his fighter Froch due to a referee blowing calls or just standing around and letting the action degrade into primitive caveman type fighting.