They would've had you believe it was a shutout at the time of the stoppage. I think I had Groves up by a point.
I have no doubt that Groves would've been spark out if it had gone on 5-10 seconds longer and Froch wouldn't be taking any of the hate he's getting for what would've been a clear cut knockout victory.
They completely ignored the punches Froch landed and the fouls Groves also was committing and just mentioned the ones from Froch. Round 7 (I think) Groves was clean loading up and aiming for the back of Froch's head, it couldn't be mistaken for anything other than intentional. Froch pushed him against the ropes and landed a couple of punches and the commentary team were saying points should be taken from Froch.
They completely ignored the punches Froch landed and the fouls Groves also was committing and just mentioned the ones from Froch. Round 7 (I think) Groves was clean loading up and aiming for the back of Froch's head it couldn't be mistaken for anything other than intentional, Froch pushed him against the ropes and landed a couple of punches and the commentary team were saying points should be taken from Froch.
yeah they were in the groves sweepstakes. they must have a contract with his promoter or something. that was some of the worst sh-it ever. even from the first minute of the first round where neither guy was doing anything they said groves was dominating. both guys feeling each other out=gatti-mayweather domination ok jim!
That's up to the ref, it's his call. I agree with you though, Groves was done and likely heading for a violent KO.
I'm bemused by the attitude of boxing fans sometimes.
Me too. The worst part of all is not that he stopped it, but that he stopped it in favour of the hometown fighter who had been hurt ten times worse and was actually close to being knocked out, and yet he allowed it to go on until stopping it as quick as possible the moment Groves even looked like he might be about to get hurt.
It's all fine to say it's his call, but there has to be a modicum of consistency for both fighters. If he's going to stop it early, based on whatever reason, then the fight was over in the first round. It's all well and good to talk about another Mago, if that's going to be his reasoning, but then the fight was over in the sixth after Froch was hurt numerous times, had taken a lot of clean punches, dropped badly in the first round, on the verge of being KO'd and hurt again in the 6th.
The first time Groves looked remotely on the verge of being hurt, he jumped in straight away. If you're going to do that, you have to look at the double standard as Froch was hurt so, so much worse early on and throughout the fight.
If it's his call to stop it in favour of one fighter based on the fact that Froch is allowed to get hurt, dropped, stunned, staggered, and hit cleanly much more often, but Groves is only allowed one brief stagger and it's over for him, then it shouldn't have been his call at all as he is clearly not giving both fighters the same treatment and fans shouldn't go along with that. Froch was dropped badly, very wobbly and on the verge of being stopped....Groves was only stunned and still fighting back but he suddenly decides Groves isn't allowed the same chance as Froch?
A refs call should be based on the rules of boxing, and the same across the board for all fighters, not his personal favouring and bias.
We too often go along with this weird thing citing a ref being allowed to do it based on it being his own call. That's fine, but it is a professional sport with rules and they can't just decide to forego those rules to suit one fighter over the other. That's disgraceful.
After what happened to Hatton with Cortez, you of all people should be disgusted with any ref showing favouritism. It's not their call when it's ruining a fight and giving only one fighter a huge advantage....in this case, literally giving him the fight. Cortez was **** in the Hatton/Floyd fight, but Floyd beat Hatton with punches. The ref actually gave Froch this win. Froch hadn't gotten close to winning it at the time it was stopped.
It's also not their call when it's basically against the rules. It specifically states that a fight should only be stopped on their feet when a fighter is taking unnecessary punishment, is not fighting back and cannot reasonably defend himself. None of that applies to Groves whatsoever and if he decided it applied to Groves, then it sure as **** applied to Froch ten times worse.
Such a pity as it could have had FOTY written all over that ending and given Froch the single best comeback win of his career. As it stands now, it's going to be a fight that forever mars him as someone greatly favoured with hometown help....a bit like many Froch fans say Ward gets.
Has there been any word over there about a rematch yet?
He rarely looks great when he fights either, that's why everyone has picked against him his whole career.
He won again tho...intangibles.
Froch literally wins fights on his intangibles. There have been numerous fights when he's been the clear loser on paper in terms of boxing standards, but he just pulls it out with sheer willpower and determination. He's a true champion in that respect.
Even this fight, despite it being a terrible decision, Froch came back from the brink of defeat and a bad knockdown to get himself back into the fight, even if he wasn't, or shouldn't have, won it the way he did.
I still want to see a Ward rematch before Ward ****s off to 175 or in another direction. I'm not entirely convinced Groves would do as well in a rematch. He might do even better, but I don't think so.
ward will duck groves. too tricky for him. the walls are closing in on ward. stevenson would destroy him at 175 or 168 and the froch rematch isn't happening. the only joke fight he has is chavez but certainly no one will want that awful awful fight. ward's praying for his baldomir moment to get him out of this one like floyd did with margarito. i guess he could always "retire" if things get too hot.
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