By Edward Chaykovsky
WBC silver super middleweight champion James DeGale believes Carl Froch was mentally affected in the pre-fight war of words coming into last November's fight with George Groves. Froch, who went down in the first and took some lumps, came back in the second half to stop Groves in controversial fashion to retain the IBF/WBA 'regular' titles.
A rematch is booked for this Saturday night before 80,000 fans at Wembley. This time around, DeGale says Froch is taking a step back from the talking and focusing more on the training.
"To be honest the build-up to the last fight, Froch looked a little bit rattled," DeGale told Sky Sports. "He's like me, he can't stand the guy. He's annoying, he thinks he's something he's not, Groves, and yeah I just think he's just got under his skin. I think Froch is just taking a step back and letting Groves do all the talking, trying to play all the mental games and I think you're going to see a fantastic fight on the 31st."
