A first preemptive seed planted in the referee’s mind for their mega-fight, George Groves’s trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick has drawn attention to Carl Froch’s not-so-nice line in the barge and the rabbit punch. But if Groves really wants a clean fight, all he has to do is box from distance and Froch will have it all to do.
George Groves understands his attempt to ridicule Froch on the Ringside show as a continuation of war by other means and contemplation of his role as psychological ’bully’ even sprang a faintly rueful smile. With the self-possession of an assassin that is about him always, Groves assures us that he harbors no ill-will once a fight is over. Cold composure, as his former trainer Adam Booth defines it. Clinical, scientific, precise. He views Froch as much too under the sway of brute feeling. The merest smuggled emotion for Groves is a crutch in the ring.
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