By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan thinks it’s a bad idea for George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) to get in the trenches with IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) and slug it out on Saturday night in their rematch at Wembley Stadium, even though Groves found a lot of success in fighting like that in their previous fight. Khan believes that for Groves to win, he’s going to need to stick and move for 12 rounds, and use his footwork to keep from being a stationary target for Froch’s heavy punches.
Khan doesn’t say how Groves can go about moving for 12 continuous rounds without gassing out or losing power on his punches to the extent that he’ll be slapping by then 7th or 8th rounds.
“For Groves to win this fight, he’s got to box. He’s got to hit, move, and not stay still, because the last time he got stopped was when he stayed in there,” Khan said. “I don’t think the fight should have been stopped the first time. The referee should have given it another 10 seconds, 20 seconds. But I think he [Howard John Foster] stopped it early because Carl was the champion at the time. He’s still the champion now, but he has the bigger name. But if George sticks to his jab, hits and moves, and uses his footwork, because he’s got good footwork, I think he can win this fight.”
So there it is, folks. All Groves needs to do is hit, move and not be stationary for any real length of time. Maybe it’s okay for Groves to stand still long enough to get in a couple of head shots before taking off again.
If Groves is going to stay on the move for 12 rounds, which I don’t think he can, he’s going to need to stay on the outside far enough to where Froch won’t be able to spear him with his jabs, because he’s going to be looking to flick his slow jab out continuously if Groves is going to be circling for 12 rounds. Froch’s jab is slow and easy to time, it’ll give Groves plenty of opportunities to block it or come underneath with a right hand to the head immediately after Froch throws his noodle like jabs. We could see Groves knocking Froch down again, but this time finishing him off after he gets back up.
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