froch66 By Scott Gilfoid: Adam Booth, the former trainer for George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s), thinks he went overboard the last time he fought IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) by choosing to slug with Froch instead of sticking with his game plan on using his boxing skills to beat the 36-year-old. Booth thought that Groves got a little too impatient after finding a lot of success in the first six rounds of the fight.

Groves fought well when he was boxing Froch, and throwing just enough shots to win the rounds. But later in the fight, Groves threw too many shots and lost a lot of the power on his punches. And by the time referee Howard John Foster pulled the plug on the fight in the 9th, Groves looked ragged as he’d lost all the strength in his shots. He was punched out and pretty tired looking.

“I think George got too greedy,” Booth said on Ringside. “He threw too many shots and allowed Carl just a couple of moments, just to claw his way back into the fight, and it was one of those brief moments when Howard Foster jumped in. I expect George to box with more discipline, more control and not to get greedy and impatient when he has success. I am pretty sure he wasn’t told to go out there and be gung-ho and whether he didn’t listen or do what was being told, I don’t know…He threw too many shots and was losing the impact of the punches that were landed.”

I totally agree with Booth. Groves threw far too many punches in the fight, and didn’t fight smart and box Froch the way that Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell did. Groves basically fought Froch’s fight, and was able to get the better of him for while due to his hand speed and power advantage, but he eventually got tired and lost the fight. Groves is going to need to chop his work rate in half if he wants to be able to conserve some energy.

It’s too bad Booth wasn’t still training Groves, because he probably would have beaten Froch if Booth had been able to slow Groves down last November and get him to stop throwing so many punches.