by David P. Greisman

For eight and a half rounds, the story of the fight between Carl Froch and George Groves was one of pleasantly surprising drama.

Groves, the youthful upstart challenger, had knocked Froch down in the first round, had hurt him repeatedly, and was ahead on the scorecards. Froch, the confident, elder super middleweight world titleholder, was battling back, trying to right his ship and prevent the upset.

The story of the fight will still include all of the above. But it will not necessarily be the main takeaway.

The main takeaway is that, well, all of the above drama got taken away due to the rash decision of referee Howard John Foster — who not only may have robbed Groves of his chance to win, but also robbed Froch of his chance to win without controversy.

That’s because Froch had suddenly come back in the ninth, hurting Groves and leaving him reeling. But before Groves could get a chance to recover, and before Froch could get a chance to finish, Foster jumped in with the quick stoppage, giving Froch the technical knockout.

Froch — who got his 32nd pro victory and 23rd knockout and retained his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association belts — agreed with Foster’s call.

“I thought it was a fair enough stoppage. I hit him with two shots at the end, and I felt I had a couple more free shots on him,” Froch said in a post-fight interview. “He was struggling. He was looking at the floor and his head was turning away, and it is the last shot or two shots that can do some damage in this sport.”

Early on, it appeared as if Froch might not even get to the position where he could escape with the win.

Groves, a 25-year-old who turned pro in 2008, had denigrated Froch in the build-up to the bout. Yet that talk was pretty much all that spoke for Groves. Despite his amateur credentials and his record of 19 wins, no losses and 15 knockouts as a pro, his level of opposition had never come anywhere close to that of Froch.

It didn’t take him long to back up the talk, though. In the final seconds of the first round, Froch, with his back to the ropes, threw a right hand that hit Groves’ face, and Groves retaliated with a left hook and a right that put Froch down hard. Froch rose on wobbly legs and survived the round, but Groves had set the tone.

Groves had shown he wouldn’t be intimidated by Froch, a 36-year-old who has been fighting pro since 2002, has held world titles on and off since the month after Groves made his pro debut, has faced the top names at 168 and has only suffered losses to two of the best, Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward.

Froch’s credentials weren’t going to make him faster or more accurate than Groves. Rather, it seemed as if Froch was having difficulty contending with what Groves was doing.

Groves was countering with hard right hands over Froch’s jabs. Froch would only flick out his left hand, and often it was falling short. Groves’ jabs snapped into Froch’s face. Froch’s timidity and caution only helped Groves out, giving him more of an ability to land that right again and again, as well as the crosses that came on the tail end of Groves’ one-two combinations.

And even when Froch decided to stand his ground and trade, Groves’ punches were thrown straighter and landed flusher.

Froch still sought to do damage, and he succeeded in bringing swelling from beneath Groves’ left eye in the third round.

Nevertheless, Groves was largely in command for the first six rounds, and Froch was visibly frustrated, hitting Groves on breaks and drawing multiple warnings from the referee. Groves wasn’t free of infractions himself, though.

Entering the ninth round, one judge had Groves up 78-73, or six rounds to two with an additional point for the knockdown. The other two judges had Groves up 76-75, or four rounds apiece. Many unofficial observers felt those latter scorecards were too close.

Groves landed a few rights as well as a couple left hooks in the opening minute of the ninth. Froch soon hurt Groves and rushed at him, letting loose with his offense and trying to put Groves down.

The final punches to land were a couple right hands, a left hook and a right hand, and Groves came forward off the ropes, his head down, perhaps seeking to tie up.

Foster jumped in. Groves protested, but it didn’t matter what he said. The fight was over.

“He caught me with a good shot, but that should never have been a stoppage. Every round beforehand I had Carl buzzed, and buzzed much heavier, but because he has this warrior image, he got the benefit of the doubt,” Groves said afterward.

Not long afterward, he added: “I had it taken away from me tonight.”

That much is true, but the result could end up being more than the first loss on Groves’ record. Groves had entered the packed arena in Manchester, England, to the sound of boos, but he heard cheers afterward. The crowd went in the opposite direction, meanwhile, when it came to Froch.

The consolation in this controversy is that it could lead to a rematch.

The story of that second fight, should it come, is yet to be told. But the story of this rivalry is that it needs a deciding chapter and a fitting conclusion — one brought about properly by the winner, and not prematurely by the referee.

Pick up a copy of David’s new book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or on Amazon U.K. at http://amzn.to/11mYGZI . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com