Referee Charlie Fitch could work Froch-Groves 2 fight

By Boxing News - 05/22/2014 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: American referee Charlie Fitch has been offered up by the IBF to work the May 31st fight between IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) and George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) at the Wembley Stadium in London, UK. Both fighters have until the end of the week to say yes or veto the choice of Fitch. Froch’s team already rejected American referee Jack Reiss for the fight.

Reiss is known to be a strict referee that doesn’t put up with fouling. Groves and his trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick had given the green light on Reiss.

It’s very likely that the referee that eventually ends up working the fight will be one that kinds of stands back and lets the fighters have at it. That’s good and bad. It’s good if one of the fighters is fouling away 24/7, but bad for the other guys if he’s on the receiving end up the fouls. The referee working the previous fight between them Howard John Foster didn’t do much to control the fouling in the fight, and it was pretty bad to watch.

Groves and his trainer paddy Fitzpatrick are concerned with Froch’s rabbit punching. They want to make sure that whatever referee that ends up working the fight that he’ll control Froch from throwing those dangerous punches. Fitzpatrick sees there being a real danger if Groves getting clobbered in the back of the head all night, and he wants to make sure that the referee working the fight isn’t just hanging around inside the ring without being on his job.

It’s quite possible that a referee won’t be needed for the fight as far controlling the fouling, because I have a feeling that this fight won’t go the distance. Either Groves is going to knock Froch out early or Froch will get to Groves in the later rounds. The important thing is that the referee working the fight knows what’s going on, and he doesn’t jump in too soon like last time the two fought. That was really sad to watch how Foster wrapped Groves in a headlock while Froch nailed him twice when the fight was halted in the 9th. A referee has got to be able to do a better job than that for an important fight like this.



Comments are closed.