Exclusive Interview: ‘Froch is a caveman, he’s just not good enough’, claims Groves
This interview appears in the current edition of Sport magazine. , and
“A day or two after the fight, I was in John Lewis buying a frying pan. Because that’s what you do, right? I’d ruined the last pan and I was trying to replace it before anyone noticed, when this lad of about 14 came over and asked for a photo with me. He was standing near what I presumed was his mum and she asked for one too. Then they went off in two different directions.
“So I’m getting recognised by 50-year-old women now. This is totally new to me! But it’s great. I’d love to think that women are starting to watch more boxing and that maybe I’m crossing over to general sports fans.”
<em>Sport</em> is asking George Groves about his raised profile since his November 2013 super-middleweight megafight with Carl Froch. The controversial ninth-round stoppage for Froch (with Groves on his feet and narrowly ahead on the judges’ scorecards) punched a hole in Groves’ undefeated professional record.
However, it did lead to a surge in public sympathy for the now 26-year-old Hammersmith boxer. Our surroundings, in the spartan Dale Youth Amateur Boxing Club - a few dingy rooms on the ground floor of an estate in west London - might seem a contradictory place to discuss Groves’ current rise to stardom.
The only images of fame and fortune are the posters and photos on the gym walls: of Frank Bruno, of Nigel Benn, of Mike Tyson submerged by adoring fans in Brixton. Alongside these are newspaper clippings about Dale Youth boxers - most notably stories about the young Groves and of his fierce rival: fellow Dale Youth amateur and Olympic gold-medallist James DeGale.
It was here that it all began for Groves. It’s a journey that climaxes at Wembley Stadium on May 31, where ‘The Saint’ hopes to be crowned a world champion in front of 80,000 people. But, before that, we go back to Manchester six months ago, and the most frustrating night of his career.
The timing of the stoppage in your fight with Froch was a shock to most people. What was the first emotion you felt afterwards?
“I wasn’t as sad or as angry as I got later. I just thought [sighs heavily]: ‘Really? I’ve done all this. I’ve put up with so much to get this far. I have boxed brilliantly for nine rounds - and this is how you’re going to take it away from me?’ But then it was just: ‘Okay, where do we go from here?’ I’d planned to be world champion, have two weeks off, then do something about my career - because I had no promoter, no manager. But instead, literally before I got out of the ring, I thought: ‘Back to work.’”
Two of the three judges had you only one point ahead at the time the fight ended. How did that affect you?
“I ended up writing a Facebook statement on my fan page, essentially saying that it needs to be investigated. I remember the British Boxing Board of Control calling and telling me I can’t say that sort of stuff. Well, it’s an opinion at the end of the day. And that opinion is shared by 20,000 people in the arena and loads of people who watched it at home.”
We’re boldly assuming that you didn’t agree with the judges…
“Being as generous as I can, I’d give Carl a share of one or two rounds - and I won the rest. Easily. To be a point up on the scorecards when I’ve dropped him in round one, you’re saying it was a 50/50 fight after eight rounds. It’s unbelievable… there have to be some serious question marks, because I’m boxing on a rival promoter’s show, against the champion. So is that a reason why I’m only one point up? I’ve made it pretty public that I don’t feel British officials should be involved in this fight [the rematch]. Not because British officials are corrupt, but because they can possibly be influenced by the build-up. They certainly were in the last fight. Because there was no way the fight should have been stopped - and there’s no way I should have been only one point up.”
You entered the arena to a mixed reception, but left to cheers. What do you think people learned about you that night?
“I hope that the general public think I’m ballsy, that I’ve got heart and can fight - and that I’m a bit of a wind-up. That’s why I sit there and play with a Rubik’s Cube from time to time [as Groves did in the press conference to announce the rematch]. But also the people in boxing now know to treat me with a little bit of respect. Because that’s something you have to earn in boxing.”
Tell us about the Rubik’s Cube - why did you take it with you into the press conference?
“Carl talks and talks and says a lot of stuff we’ve heard before. He isn’t that interesting. So I thought I’d play with my Rubik’s Cube - see if I could solve it under the spotlight. Carl as a puzzle is far too simple for me.”
Where did you learn do it so quickly?
“There’s only one solution, which is the perfect solution. There’s set algorithms that you need to understand. You can’t look at it and go: ‘Right if I turn that way it messes this up, if I turn this way it messes that up…’ If you look at it logically, you can solve it.”
Froch has been seeing a sports psychologist before this fight. What do you make of that?
“Interesting! I find that very interesting. Because when mind games were brought up before the first fight, his trainer Robert McCracken said [paraphrasing]: ‘Are there mind games?’ And he only did that because he didn’t want to have a conversation with Carl about it. Because if he does, Carl’s going to say: ‘If there are mind games, boss, am I winning?’ No Carl, you’re not winning at all. So they said to him: ‘There’s no such thing as them. Don’t worry about it. It’s just something the media talk about.’ Yet he [McCracken] is head of GB Boxing, part of the Olympic team, and they’ve got sports psychologists, nutritionists, everyone at hand. So he’s had to lie to Carl before the first fight. This time around he’s had to say: ‘Carl, I’ve lied to you - there is such a thing as mind games and this sports psychologist might be able to help you out.’ Because, by all accounts, he can’t even listen to my name.”
Do you feel an antagonistic build-up brings the best out of you, or do you feel it just rattles Froch?
“Probably both. Carl can’t deal with many things. He has a superiority complex, where he feels people owe him respect and that he’s above the rest. I don’t think he likes anyone being successful in their own right. He’s picked on Amir Khan in the past, he’s picked on Tyson Fury, he’s even had digs at his friend David Haye. You’re never going to fight these guys, Carl, so why are you digging them out? So when it comes to me and I’m actually going to fight him, all it takes is one or two people saying: ‘I think Groves has a chance.’ And that was it. He couldn’t comprehend it.”
You’ve had a similarly heated feud with James DeGale. You seem like a nice chap to us, George. Why do you feel you end up in these situations?
“I always just try to tell the truth. That’s a weapon I’ve got. If I tell someone the truth and they don’t like it, how are they going to deal with that? So in the build-up to the last fight, I told Carl Froch how I’m going to land these punches, how I’m going to hurt him - and he’d say: ‘I don’t like your salmon trousers.’ All right man! Let’s see which one of us doesn’t sleep well tonight. Because I won’t be wearing salmon trousers on fight night, but you will be eating one of my right hands.”
You’ve also taken a few verbal shots at Eddie Hearn in the build-up to the rematch. Why take aim at the fight’s promoter?
“Eddie works for Carl Froch. Carl is a Matchroom fighter and I’m not. And when Eddie talks broadly about Carl, he puts me in there, so people think we’re the same. He’ll say: ‘They both hate each other.’ What? I don’t hate Carl. When have I ever said that I dislike Carl? A few other things as well. In the build-up to this fight, he’s saying it was a hard fight to make: two massive egos. Well, it wasn’t two massive egos, was it Eddie? I flew half the way around the world to make this fight - don’t say I’m not trying to make this fight… But he’s like a doting mother who has to defend a troublesome child. He defends Carl when he has no right to defend him. But a mother’s love is strong and that’s what he’s got for Carl.”
Do you use it as motivation: the thought that a lot of powerful people might be against you winning?
“I was an underdog last time, but I never thought about that until after the fight. It made me really concentrate and focus on the fact that I not be reliant on anyone - and that’s how I want to keep my boxing career now. I don’t depend on anyone. It’s a brutal way of thinking, and I have a really good team around me now. But I believe you can’t carry baggage in this sport.”
So the experience of the past nine months or so has taught you a lot?
“Massively. It’s a problem with boxing, really, because you can become really dependent on people. You’re forced to sign a manager’s agreement to turn professional - and the manager has to be a licence holder with the British Boxing Board of Control. But if you’re an 18-year-old lad from west London and you don’t know anyone, then you have to put your trust in someone. And they can look after you brilliantly for two or three years. But then they can easily just go cold on you and you’re left in no-man’s land. So I’m happy that I now know enough about the business and am independent enough to understand what’s right and wrong - and be confident enough now to take care of myself.”
You gave yourself a six-out-of-10 rating for the previous fight. How can you improve this time around?
“There’s plenty of things I can do better. I’ve had more time to spend with my new training team. Paddy [Fitzpatrick, Groves’ trainer] can be more vocal and bring more of his thoughts to the table, because he didn’t want to change too much in too little time before the last one. I’ll have more experience, I’ll be fitter, healthier, stronger. I’ve had more time to train - and there will be a few surprises that we have up our sleeve.”
Do you think Froch might come into this fight with a different gameplan?
“Well, he can come out and try to start faster, which he’ll struggle with because he’s never really started fast. And, when he has, he’s faded badly towards the end. He talks about being a 12-round fighter, but he only ever comes on strong when he sleeps the first six rounds. If he comes out and tries to be cautious and not throw so many punches, well then he’s still not going to be doing anything to keep me off him, which is frightening for him.”
You are the bookies’ underdog once again, albeit more narrowly than last time. What wins you this fight?
“Ultimately it comes down to the fundamentals. I’ve got faster feet than him, I’ve got faster hands than him, better defensive abilities than him - and I know that can hurt him. So when you look at it like that, well, what are you going to do, Carl? Grit your teeth and hope for the best. He’s just going to walk into shots. He’s going to have to punch his way out of bad situations and then walk on to even heavier shots. What he’s got is just not good enough. He’s a caveman. He’s fighting with flint tools.”