By Roy Spivey: Everything for a reason, then.
But for a guy who doesn’t want to be seen as the antagonist in all of this, George Groves might want to reconsider that devastating stare-down. At times he looked like Larry David squinting into the eyes of someone he suspects of lying. Though here Groves actually insisted his lie-detector stare elicited a few all-important ‘tells’.
After Carl Froch had asked him to explain his mantra for the sake of the fans, Groves shot a conspiratorial smirk at Johnny Nelson – ‘you’re buying my line Johnny!’ – then changed to mock-indignation. No way would he be cowed by Froch into clarifying its meaning (a slogan rivalled only by ‘it is what it is’ for carefree redundancy). The hunter had become the hunted, or something.
‘Everything’, then, is just about anything Groves can press into the service of wearing Froch out before he enters the ring. A simple, tried and tested boxing game plan.
Down the line he might explain to Froch and the world it was all a pantomime, and that, honestly, the intention was never to be ungentleman-like, really, barring what was necessary to derange his opponent’s mind when his head hit the pillow (thereby enlarging the mounting body of evidence that suggests sleeping on the couch as an invaluable modern training method).
Froch could even take all of this effort on the part of Groves to steal a psychological march as something of a compliment – some are amazed he already hasn’t – if only he weren’t so ill-at ease during these great cinematic moments. Although Groves knows playing the bully won’t hurt his marketability, I suspect he’s not as comfortable with being the potential villain of the piece as he likes to let on.
His artful solution to the question of how to upset Froch whilst winning over the fans has been to conflate two different things, one legitimate, the other below the belt. Feinting with a long-overdue jab at the international panjandrum’s ego, Groves dealt a withering body-blow to his emotional make up.
It was never the unfavourable critique of his CV that had upset Froch to begin with. The scramble to pass judgement on each other’s record is standard practice among fighters. Rather, the bad feeling started with a fistful of digs that sought to portray the champion as emotional and weak.
Groves identified Froch’s tendency to fight in ’emotional bursts’, his over-reliance on his ‘boss’ Robert McCracken, and questionable capacity to cope with the prolonged scrutiny a domestic rivalry entails. Groves, we are to infer by extension, is the epitome of composure, smarts and high-functioning independence, whose only minor defect is a seemingly inexhaustible ability to alienate almost everyone.
If Froch’s reluctance to shake after the first fight was a public relations suicide, it was a reflection of how entangled he had become, and his unspoken sense of injustice at the psychological toll the Groves mind-trip had unsparingly wrought. Clearly it has been a ‘battle’ for Froch to compete with the mental agility of Groves with his weapons-grade confidence. That is simply not what Carl Froch is or has been about, ever. Simple as that. Fact.
As for the fight itself, the more nervous Froch is, the better he performs. But only he knows if there was a significant motivational component to his terrible start in the first battle, or whether it was a clear-cut case of superior technique and talent that will again surely rule the day.
Each is determined to underestimate the other. Froch, with his exaggeration of the extent to which Groves was hurt (sure, it would likely have been a knock-down, but he looked to have his wits about him and has recovered from similar adversity before). Groves, for his part, is busy advancing the idea that Froch is incapable of adapting (when, in fact, towards the end of a fight with even a master technician like Andre Ward, Froch was able to make the adjustments that kept things interesting)
Perhaps a sharper, more present Froch will be able to time his jab and stay out of harm’s way until he comes on crazed in the championship rounds. Or maybe the same disciplined Groves who edged out Degale will find it easy to follow the blueprint laid out by Dirrell and Taylor and coast to a points victory.
Lately, Groves passed up on the chance to effectively write his own promotional cheques, favoring the relative security of a long-term contract with Sauerland. If everything for a reason fails, his virtuosity beyond the ropes will still be worth something.
For Froch, everything is on the line – career, legacy, the lot. Perhaps he can keep it only by letting go.
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