George Groves: "I was so stressed after Carl Froch defeat, I'll still beat Degale"

GEORGE GROVES: I was so stressed after losing to Carl Froch but a friend got me help... it was good to talk about my issues - George Groves is taking some time out from boxing to find a new coach to replace Paddy Fitzpatrick - He admits that he rushed back after his Wembley defeat by Carl Froch which he struggled to motivate himself for - Groves will not return until he replaces his trainer and he is determined to become world champion after failed attempts - He believes he could beat rival James DeGale if given another opportunity Inside the home of George Groves, the only resident who appears to be a boxer has four legs and a deep, booming bark. There is nothing that points to the profession of the dog's master. No trophies. Not so much as a photograph in this tastefully decorated period London house. 'Anything to do with boxing is shipped straight off to my gym,' says Groves as he eats breakfast at his kitchen table. 'My belts and trophies I've always given to my dad. 'When I walk into the gym everything else in my life I leave at the door. But I do the same on the way out too, so when I'm home I'm home. I couldn't think of anything worse than having a gym in the house.' http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/06/23/2D1DFF5900000578-3262520-George_Groves_poses_with_his_two_dogs_inside_his_house_in_London-a-47_1444169749683.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/06/23/2D1E00AB00000578-3262520-Groves_is_taking_some_time_out_to_find_a_new_boxing_coach_before-a-43_1444169749610.jpg Since losing on a split decision to Badou Jack in Las Vegas last month, in what was his third attempt to clinch a world title, Groves has not given much thought to entering any kind of gym. He decided he needed a break after a 'relentless two years' that was ignited by the first of those two super-middleweight encounters with Carl Froch. He would now admit he probably needed some time away from the sport after the second Froch fight in May last year, because the manner of the defeat, the fact he was knocked out cold by his great rival, was something he should have taken stock of before climbing back into the ring. But within two days of that defeat he was plotting the fastest route back to another world title shot. 'I was chasing it,' he admits. Only now is Groves taking time to reflect before deciding what happens next. Only now does he realise he should have changed his trainer before pursuing that bout with Jack, and not until he finds a replacement for Paddy Fitzpatrick will he return to work. Defeat in the second Froch fight, he candidly admits, took some getting over. So much so that at one stage a close friend even booked the 27-year-old in to see a sports psychologist. 'After other fights I'd lost I could rationalise it by concluding that the judges had screwed me, or I didn't do this or didn't do that,' he says. 'The first Froch fight, I was winning and the referee stopped it for no reason. But the second time I just got knocked out. 'When I got up I didn't know if I'd been out for a 10th of a second or 10 minutes. I made a mistake and that aspect of it was hard to get over. 'The next morning I woke up and felt like s***. Sophie and I booked a flight and went to Dubai, which was nice. But the next day I'm sitting by the pool and texting, trying to sort my next fight. I wanted to get straight back on the horse. 'It was a tough spell, though, a real tough training camp preparing for the next fight. The biggest problem was the fact that my weight wouldn't budge. 'I was doing the same things but it wasn't coming down. I was weighing myself 11 times a day, getting stressed. I tried to figure it out and my educated guess was that it was down to stress, because your hormones are different when you're stressed.' Losing to Froch, after all the hype around the fight, was a major comedown. 'I was thinking I could have been the champion,' he says. 'I could have been the biggest thing in British boxing, having won at Wembley in front of 80,000 people. I'm then preparing for the next fight, across the road at Wembley Arena, and thinking, "Why am I finding this so difficult? Why am I not enjoying training? Why am I not enjoying sparring? Why is the weight not moving? Why does waking up in the morning and doing those morning runs feel so difficult?" 'Behind my back, a friend arranged for me to see a sports psychologist. And did so at the risk of us falling out. But I appreciated it, because not chewing my wife's ear off about my problems and talking instead to someone new, someone who is a professional, was a good thing. 'It lasted an hour. She gave me her card at the end but she said, "I think you're fine. There's nothing really wrong here". It was helpful to hear that too.' Eventually Groves resolved the weight issue with a nutritionist. 'That felt more like a breakthrough,' he says. 'And it helped to share the burden a bit. Making the weight was always my responsibility. Now I had someone helping me. Once the weight started to come off, that kick-started everything.' Groves is refreshingly normal. There are the stunts designed to help promote fights, and he admits with a wry smile to buying a 'professional Rubik's Cube that you could move quicker' in a bid to finish the puzzle in the time it took Froch to answer a question during one particularly memorable press conference. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/06/23/2D1E007200000578-3262520-image-a-66_1444171348412.jpg But this is a man who has known his wife since they were at nursery school together in nearby Hammersmith; who pursued a career in boxing while she studied at Roehampton University to be a primary school teacher. Always good with numbers, he says he might have worked in the City had he not become a professional sportsman. 'My dad is a painter and decorator (and judging by some of his work on their walls, a fine artist too) and he always told me he didn't want me working on a building site,' says Groves. The ambition to achieve his goals, to win that world title, remains strong in Groves. But he also applies a bit of realism to his situation. 'Contrary to what people might believe, I certainly haven't made enough money to never need to work again,' he says. It is partly what drove him towards that fight in Vegas last month, one he now concedes he could have approached differently. 'I worked hard to get myself back in that position and it was gutting, for that reason, to lose,' he says. 'After that I definitely needed a break. It had been an intense couple of years and I needed to make some changes.' He means Fitzpatrick. 'Paddy's a nice enough guy and he came to my rescue before the first Froch fight, and I boxed well there,' says Groves. 'But for a while I'd felt he couldn't get the best out of me. At one stage I suggested bringing in someone alongside him but he wasn't happy doing that. 'So after the Badou Jack fight I told him I wanted a break from boxing. I said we wouldn't be working together while I decided whether I want to box on or not. And then a few days later he gave an interview and I found what he said very disappointing. 'He said technically I had no problems, and physically I had no problems. It was all down to my mental attitude. Basically the bit that's down to me. He was saying that I can't cope. 'The fact that I got up off the floor in the first round, fought for 12 rounds and took it to a split decision, I'd say that shows good mental strength. I think he was jumping before he was pushed. We haven't spoken since.' So what now? 'We're looking for a new boxing coach,' he says. 'There are not that many to choose from, which is perhaps why you end up sitting in a relationship too long. But there are some good people out there. Some with great knowledge.' He runs through some possible names on both sides of the Atlantic: Tony Sims and Shane McGuigan. He notes what a fine job Robert McCracken did with Froch. He then speaks of his respect for Freddie Roach and Roger Mayweather. 'Although I haven't got the foggiest if one of those guys would want to work with me,' he says rather modestly. The key, however, is to find someone who can help him apply the finishing touches, someone who can get him where he needs to go. Perhaps even a world title bout with his bitter adversary, James DeGale. 'James DeGale will probably think, as will others, that my only chance to get another world title fight would be to get a voluntary with him,' says Groves. 'I don't feel that's necessarily the case even if it would be a fight people would want to see. The first goal is to become world champion. If that involves fighting James DeGale, then I'll fight him. 'Everyone knows we've known each other since we were kids and we don't get on. He gave an interview on his sofa the day after my last fight saying, "Funny old world, I'm world champion and Groves has lost again. I'll fight him again if it's a 90-10 split". 'It is funny how things turn out. Everyone thought he was better than me as a kid, and then I beat him as an amateur. He won the Olympic gold medal, and then I beat him as a pro. 'Now he's world champion and I'll probably beat him again.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-3262520/GEORGE-GROVES-stressed-losing-Carl-Froch-friend-got-help-good-talk-issues.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490