CREDIT Interview from http://boxingnewsonline.net/ by Tris Dixon.
TD – How do you feel about the way the fight ended?
CF – I’m frustrated.
TD – Frustration’s the key word. I thought the tables had turned in round nine with the right hand left hook but we’ll never know for sure.
CF – The right hand got him going bad that did. You know, if the ref was to my right instead of to my left, the ref wouldn’t have been able to get to him, the ref would have had to stop me from hitting him and then because of the way he slumped forward; his arms dropped, his head sagged and he was leaning over, he’d have fell over, then the ref grabs me and he falls over, and what a difference that would have made but in reality, and looking at it for what it is, that’s the start of the [final] third of the fight and the [final] third of the fight, the last four rounds – they’re the championship rounds, you know. You’ve got the first four rounds then you’ve got the middle four rounds and you’ve got the last four rounds. The last four rounds are [the championship] rounds it’s as simple as that and I was taking over at the start of the championship rounds, he was in bad trouble and he got stopped.
TD – Do you think he punched himself out of in the sixth round?
CF – I think that’s a good call actually, because at the end of round six he walked back to his corner, he was blowing very heavy, he looked very tired and, I think he was physically in bad shape, yeah. I don’t think George Groves is a 12-round fighter, I’m not sure he ever will be unless he develops some sort of stamina. Like he said on Behind the Ropes he takes weight off – he said he takes between eight and 10 pounds off, he dries out, that’s not very good. Did you see that on Behind the Ropes? I do the weight, its quite hard, I struggle a bit, but the night before I take off 8-10 pounds by drying out.
TD – What’s the feedback you’ve had from everyone. Do you feel that people are unsatisfied with the way it ended?
CF – Initially. The initial feedback was it [was stopped] early off most people, but not everyone. What people have done is go and watch it back on the television, and now most people are saying – fair stoppage, it was right. Groves had no response, he turned his back, he was slumped, he looked gone [and] it would have been dangerous for the fight to carry on. That’s the feedback I’m getting off people.
TD – What do you say to people who say you were in worse straits in the first round than he was in the ninth?
CF – Well I got up and looked at the referee and told him, “I’m okay ref, I’m good to continue". I looked him in the eye, I put my guard up and I walked towards him. Now, the difference between that and slumping over, turning your back, looking at the floor and looking like a finished man looking for retribution, looking for salvation is like chalk and cheese. You know, it’s not even comparable. The state I was in in round one, fit and healthy, on my feet, clear-eyed, talking to the referee, compare to him slumped over, saggy arms, head flopping around, turning away from me. You can’t compare the two, can you? I took my eight-count I went down, I got up and I was back on my feet – you can’t stop the fight there.
TD – What happened with the knockdown? People say you’re a slow starter, which isn’t always the case. Did you take Groves for granted or did it legitimately surprise you how hard he could crack?
CF – I know George Groves can hit quite hard. He’s not the biggest puncher I’ve ever been in with but he can obviously whack a bit, his record suggests the same. I came out cold, I wasn’t warmed up. Whatever, there’s no excuses, George Groves caught me with a good shot, I left my feet behind. Just before that I caught him with an uppercut, I did that going to the ropes, and because I caught him with that shot, I then got excited and reached and left my feet behind and came square on. As I came square on, he threw a very good right hand counter on his backfoot, he sort of backed up, got some room and hit me with a really good right hand, and he hit me square on the jaw, my feet were sort of [squared up]. There was nowhere else to go but down on the floor, there was nowhere I could have gone. I couldn’t ride the shot, I couldn’t move out the way so I got put on the seat of my pants. You know, it happens.
Another Deluded Smug Carl Froch Interview
posted on 26/11/13
TD – How hard was it in there? How gruelling was it physically, because people are calling it one of the best British fights of all time?
CF – Well I’m used to it, I thought it was alright, I was quite comfortable to be honest. I didn’t think it was a hard pace. After two or three rounds he stopped punching hard. He hit me with some really heavy looking shots in round six, he bounced a left hook and a right hand and a right hook and we were stood in front of each other in that round. He probably got the better of the exchange but to be honest, there was nothing on his punches by that stage and I thought, ‘You know what? He’s fading here, he’s not punching as hard’. I backed him up and put shots together and I could feel the life draining out of him. He’s not a 12-round fighter, George Groves, he’s not at that level yet. To become a world champion, to mix with the best in the world, you’ve got to be a 12-round fighter and you’ve got to be able to finish the 12 rounds like I [do], which is like a steam train. Round nine, 10, 11 and 12 in most of my fights I come on strong, and that’s why I’m the fighter I am, that’s why I’m the champion I am, because [football] is a game of two halves, boxing is a game of three thirds – the first third, then the middle third where you can pretty much decide who’s going to win and then there’s a final stretch, the last four rounds. There’s a reason there’s 12 rounds in boxing, there’s a reason there’s only eight rounds in a non-title fight and 12 rounds in a title fight. I wish it was back to 15 rounds, because that would suit me even better, but you can’t be fading, and looking for salvation in round nine, taking stick that he was taking and expect to go 12 rounds. Whichever way you look at it, the stoppage was justified. Howard Foster did a great job. Yes it could have gone on a bit longer, but to no avail. What would have happened? George Groves was getting knocked out. I bust him up in round eight, in round nine the [finish] was there and had the referee not jumped in all he would have done is delayed the inevitable, it’s as simple as that.
TD – Have you considered that, with how close the scorecards were that if you had won that round 10-8, you would have actually been in front, you wouldn’t have been behind on the scorecards either?
CF – The reason I’ve not talked about the scorecards is because the scorecards are insignificant. It would have been a 10-8 round and I’d have gone ahead on the scorecards, so the people who are talking about the scorecards need to switch off really. But the scorecards are irrelevant, the fight was won by TKO, by knockout. The only thing the referee did by stopping the fight early was rob me of my glory. Let’s get it right, because the glory that I should have received for what I did, climbing of the canvas in round one, which not many men have done before me, to come back and turn the fight around in such a fashion… Did you hear the crowd cheering and baying for blood when I was finishing him off? When I had him on the ropes and I was hitting him and he stepped forward and I hit him with another right hand the crowd were getting what they wanted and the referee stopped the grand finale, the grandstand finish [from] happening, but he did the right thing by saving George Groves. George Groves is going to say that he’s robbed him of his chance to [win] the fight, what I’m saying is, the only thing he’s [robbed] is me of my glory. Put yourself in my position now, people are saying what if, what if, well I know what if because I was looking into his eyes as I was hitting him, and I was feeling that he was gone. There was absolutely no way George Groves could have gone to the end of round nine let alone rounds 10, 11 and 12. The whole things a little bit ridiculous because the facts are, it’s a 12-round sport, George Groves got off to the best start he ever could have hoped for, and he still couldn’t do the job. I did the job, I finished the stronger and I TKO’d him in round nine, the writing was on the wall, it was inevitable.
TD – Would you like to fight him again?
CF – I’ll fight anyone Tris Dixon. I will fight absolutely anybody – George Groves, Andre Ward, Golovkin, Chavez. I don’t think I need to fight George Groves again to prove anything because he’s [was an] unbeaten, young, hungry fighter, the best in Britain other than me, but I’m world champion and I’ve given him his chance – a chance I wasn’t given to fight the best when I was at his stage in my career. He’s had his chance and unfortunately he’s blew it.
TD – If you could pick anyone next, who would you like to fight?
CF – Andre Ward.
TD – Over here in the UK?
CF – Ideally. It’s fair for Ward to come over here. In my 34-fight career, there’s only one man I haven’t beaten - Andre Ward.
TD – In Britain there is massive clamour for you to fight George Groves again and there’s even talk that it would fill Wembley stadium…
CF – Yeah but that doesn’t mean anything to me. It doesn’t do anything for my personal goals. George Groves was on my hitlist and guess what? On my record it says Froch v Groves – Froch TKO round 9, that’s what it says and that’s a very satisfying result on my record for the history books. They’re the facts. It’s a bitter pill for George Groves to swallow. I took the victory from him by being the warrior and the strong ironman that I am.
TD – Do you think that you’ve had a lot of unnecessary stick given it wasn’t your choice to end the fight when it ended?
CF – Most definitely. I don’t mind what Howard Foster did, but I should have said after the fight so the fans didn’t get so upset, I wish the fight was left to carry on because I do. I personally feel that the fighters should always be left to finish the fight, because I’ve watched fights in the past where I’ve been unsatisfied with the finish. When a referee jumps into a fight it spoils it for everyone and it causes controversy, that’s what happens. The rules should be different. I want the fight to be 15 rounds and I want the referee to only intervene when he has to and let the fighter finish the job and finish the f ***** work. It’s annoying and frustrating for both fighters and it gives an opening [for people] to step in and say “but what if”? It’s too much of a big if. Forget the what if, it’s the referee’s decision. [In football] if the ball goes over the line, and the referee says it didn’t go over the line, then there’s no goal. It’s called sport and there’s a reason the referee’s decision stands. Otherwise sport wouldn’t work so you have to let the officials do the officiating, the fighters do the fighting. A lot of people were left frustrated, a lot of people quite happy, George Groves obviously disagrees with the stoppage, but he’s got to. The bottom line is, he had his chance, he got off to an unbelievable start, the best start ever. He didn’t fight a 100 per cent Carl Froch, for reasons I’m not going to divulge. I don’t complain about injury, but let me tell you something, I was not 100 per cent. A lot of people in my team know why, my doctor knows why. There were issues going into the fight and George Groves, if he was ever going to beat me, that was the only chance he had to beat me. There’s no other way Goves can beat me, it’s not gonna happen. It would never happen. He got off to the best possible start and he blew it himself. He should have maybe, with hindsight, gone for the finish but I don’t think he’s got it in him.
posted on 26/11/13
TD – What do you think he can go on to achieve in his career given his age?
CF – I’m a bit worried about him because I’m concerned about this 12-round thing. He’s not a 12-round fighter, is Groves. I’ve been in there with top level, 12-round fighters. You’ve got eight-round fighters, 10 round fighters, and championship round fighters and I don’t think George Groves is a championship round fighter, so he will always struggle down the stretch against a competitive opponent over 12 rounds. He falls apart under pressure and he [hasn’t got the engine] to mix it at the top. Like I said earlier, I was just coming into my element at the start of round nine, I broke him up round seven and eight, I was getting to him round eight. In round nine I started to step on the gas, I started to feel comfortable and I put pressure on him. He fell apart and the referee saw what I saw, jumped in and made the right decision to stop the fight. I wish the fight would have gone on longer because there would have been no arguments but, think about it, there was another 10 minutes to go. Another 10 minutes of fighting, when you’re finished and you’ve got [this] steam train coming through you, how you gonna keep me off? We’ve seen it time and time again; me finishing strong. The writing was on the wall, the stoppage was inevitable and what a fantastic fight for British boxing. I’m dead proud of myself, dead proud of my team and I want to give Robert McCracken a real big shoutout because without that man there, that genius as far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I owe McCracken a lot.
TD – There was a lot of bad blood before the fight, has that dissipated at all?
CF – I had a chat with him. We had a little discussion. I told him what I thought of him and why I thought what I thought, and told him he’d been misbehaving, and he pretty much agreed. Like I said before the fight, there would be no handshakes and hugs until I’d had it out with him and I had it out with him and what he said satisfied me so I shook his hand.
TD – If you guys were to fight again, it’s likely it will start over again, don’t you think?
CF – Of course he would, because he’s childish.
TD – He was saying it’s a tactical ploy to get under your skin…
CF – Well that’s what he said then so...
TD – And you maintain that it didn’t work?
CF – Well it obviously didn’t work did it…..it didn’t work for him did it? He didn’t get under my skin. I’m too professional, he irritated and annoyed me but I’m too professional to let it affect my performance. Let’s not take anything away from George Groves’ fantastic start, but I had a very bad stat and that’s why I’m saying if there was ever a chance for George Groves to beat me it was then. Imagine putting down the champion in the first round? How confident you’d feel going back to the corner? And then you’ve seen how Groves moved on from that, he’s been stopped in round nine, it was just another one of my great performances.
TD – How did you feel going back to the corner after being put down in the first round?
CF – You know what, I had a smile on my face and I thought there’s worse things that could happen. People get knocked down in round one, they don’t get up; they roll over on to their face and they get put in the recovery position. I thought to myself, I’m glad that happened early because I was too eager. I’d just caught him with an uppercut and then I stepped in to try and hit him with a big shot but one thing Rob said was, when you catch him, step off to the side and get behind your jab, don’t go in for the finish early on, because he’s dangerous early. All fighters are dangerous early on, any fighter can give a world champion a fight for three or four rounds, but as a fight evolves and opens up and starts to slow down a bit and you get into the championship rounds, that’s [what separates] a champion from an also-rans. I’ve proved myself time and time again in the championship rounds, George Groves has never been the championship rounds under pressure. He went 12 rounds with a couple of opponents, one of them being Glengoffe Johnson, [who was] totally finished and never threw a punch for the last three rounds, so it’s different. Mind you, step back and imagine what round 10 would have been like, what round 11 would have been like, round 12 would have been like. There was another 10 minutes of me putting pressure on him and letting shots go. I only need half a minute on somebody and the fights over. I had another 10 minutes so it’s inevitable what was going to happen. And it’s irrelevant anyway, the fight was stopped by an A-star referee and I won by tko in round nine and I’m very proud of myself and my team and my achievements. I’ve had an unbelievable run of great fights. I’ve just taken on Britain’s best in my weight division and defended my titles successfully in emphatic style and I’m very, very happy and proud of what I’ve done.
TD – I know it’s something that people have asked you a lot over the years because of the amount of fights you’ve had at the highest level – have you got any kind of exit strategy in mind? Are you still looking at fighting on for a couple of years?
CF – What I’m going to do is I’m going to, for my next fight, start my training camp, and this is what I’ve done since Ward if I can’t hit my goals and targets that I’ve got in my diary [I was just watching Behind the Ropes with George Groves and it was quite pathetic, he was saying “I don’t keep a diary, I thought diaries were for 14 year old girls to write about their boyfriends”]. The reason I keep a diary is so I’ll know when it’s time to finish boxing. When I start my training camp, I will be trying to hit the same targets and the same goals that I hit when I fought Lucian Bute, because they were my best ever times, they were my best targets and all my personal bests were pretty much made in that camp because I was really driven for that fight. If I can’t come close to those times, or do my runs in very similar times, and do the same output physically work-wise I will retire. I will stop myself during the camp and say, you know what, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t do that run in 36 minutes, I can’t do that round on the pads without feeling like I’m exhausted, I can’t do that amount of press-ups, I can’t do the pull-ups. If physically I can’t do it, that’s when I’ll retire. I’ll retire when my body tells me to retire. And I’ll know when my body tells me to retire, because I’ve got the last decade of my career diarised, and it’s a massive, massive advantage to have that for many reasons, including confidence.
TD – How were your times in preparation for the Groves fight? Were they up there with the Bute ones?
CF – They was very hampered to say the least. And I don’t want to talk about injuries and I don’t like excuses because there is none because I stopped him in round nine, but you know, I was way off target to be honest for a couple of reasons. If Groves was ever gonna beat me it would have been then, because he didn’t get the 100 per cent Carl Froch, he got the 80 per cent Carl Froch and Robert McCracken and I knew that and a couple of other people close to my camp knew it but it was irrelevant. I was always going to go through with the fight. What I don’t want to do is talk about excuses but what I want to put across is, I was not 100 per cent going into that fight and I still did the job. It made no difference if I was 100 per cent or 80 per cent. Eighty per cent of me is still enough to beat George Groves because George Groves, at the minute, is not a championship fighter, he’s not a world class fighter that can go 12 rounds and cut it at the top level for that reason. I think Groves is a six-eight round fighter and we saw that on the night.
TD – So what happens now for you?
CF – I’m having 10 days in Dubai with my beautiful family. My Mum’s coming, I’m taking her away, my step dad, Rachael’s Mum and Dad are coming away. We’re not going away till early next year, I’m staying at home for Christmas. I got up this morning and did a bloody five mile run, because I couldn’t sleep this morning, because Rocco got up with a cough and Natalia was screaming with teething, so I was up about 5 o’clock and went for a run about 6 o’clock. You shouldn’t just stop and put weight on and let your body go sluggish and fat, there’s no need for it, you’ve got to keep yourself active. I might not do anything for two weeks now but I’ve got up and done a run, I’ll do a few push-ups and that. What I’ll do now is let my body rest and recover, enjoy my emphatic win and look forward to having Christmas, New Year and a holiday with my beautiful family. I wake up every day with a smile on my face and I look over at my WBA title belt, and my IBF title belt and it just fills me with such a feeling of warmth and well-being, and I’m so proud of what I’ve achieved from my career, I’m in such a happy place right now. I’ve had such a wonderful career out of boxing, and I’m still loving it and enjoying it and it’s still going. It’s not come to an end yet, there’s still a couple of fights left. It’s just which routes we take, I’ve got to sit down with Rob and Eddie [Hearn] but we’ll see. George Groves at the minute is slowly talking himself out of the fight with me because if he carries on the way he’s going he won’t get his rematch. He’s not going to be mandatory for well over a year. If he wants this fight, he’s got to start showing a bit more humility. He needs to grow up and start being a bit more respectful of what he’s saying because he’s living in cloud cuckoo land at the minute. He’s obviously devastated and gutted but the only person he’s got to blame is himself, nobody else. Stop trying to blame the referee, stop making excuses, it’s pathetic. Be a man, be magnanimous in defeat, learn from it and come back fitter and stronger because take it from a world champ, take some advice off me, because it’s not going to happen for him where I’m concerned if he carries on.
TD – There was talk after the fight that you had damaged your jaw. Has that all been checked out and are there any issues with it?
CF – There’s nothing wrong with my jaw. The shot he hit me with did hit me on the jaw but listen to this noise (bangs teeth together). If I’d broken my jaw I wouldn’t be doing that, would I? I haven’t got anything physically wrong with me from that fight at the minute. The only physical impairments I have at the minute I had going into the fight. I already had them and it’s not the best position to be in going into a world title fight but being the man I am I just get on with it.
posted on 26/11/13
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 26/11/13
Unbelievably arrogant. Nasty tw'at.
posted on 26/11/13
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posted on 27/11/13
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 27/11/13
"Emphatic win"
What a deluded
Chisora's trainer called it bang on, said froch is a fighter but he got "schooled" by groves, and that froch won't want a rematch because he's too old to learn how to beat groves.