By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward sees the May 31st rematch between IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch and George Groves as little more than a domestic level fight between two guys from Britain, but not fighters that would mean a lot if they were to be in the United States. Ward thinks neither of those guys want any part of him, and I think a lot of boxing fans would agree with Ward. Froch already got whipped by Ward in the Super Six tournament in 2011, and a rematch likely would see the same result but only worse because Ward fought Froch with a fractured left hand.
“That’s [Froch vs. Groves] a domestic fight,” Ward said to Ringside’s Toe2 Toe podcast. “It’s not here in America, that’s not in Vegas, it’s not in New York, that’s a domestic fight. I don’t think either guy wants the fight, that’s just how I see it…Froch clearly doesn’t want the fight.”
Ward says that Froch has never followed through to attempt to get a rematch despite all the bold talk that he’s done about wanting to fight Ward again to try and avenge his defeat.
As far as the Froch-Groves rematch goes, Ward sees it basically as an even fight, but one that will be decided on whoever is the better fighter down the stretch run. Froch had more gas in the tank late in the fight last November than Groves, so he was starting to control the action at the time the referee Howard John Foster stopped the bout.
Groves fought like a 6-round fighter, and it could be that all of his early knockouts that he recorded during his career against mostly soft opposition has prevented him from developing his stamina the way that normal fighters do. Normally fighters are slowly moved from 4 rounds to 6, and then from 8 rounds to 12. But in Groves’ case, he didn’t get a chance to build up his stamina with those fights because he was knocking everyone out early for the most part.
If Groves improves on his stamina, he should dominate Froch with no problems. Froch couldn’t do a thing against Groves last time until Groves got tired. So if Groves doesn’t fade, then Froch is in for a real beat down for sure.
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