Jim Watt had it 6-1 froch but to be fair to him he did stress that most rounds were close and it was what you prefer. I think he was mindful of the criticism he got for being biased towards groves in the first fight and went too far the other way.

5-2 was raving about Froch's jab which was pretty non existant

Groves couldn't safely make middle in a month of sundays, would be catastrophic.

Of all the ridiculous **** Paddy Fitzpatrick spouted in the run up to this fight his comments on Froch being at a disadvantage for naturally staying around his fighting weight were about the most cringeworthy..

B-Hop did somthing very similar throughout his career and it certainly didn't hinder his longevity.

Groves is obv better than Euro level ,not many fighters have given Froch such anxious moments , Froch is a warrior without doubt ,thats why no-one has stopped him , that was a magic punch from a very strong hard hitting seasoned pro that would k/o the best , Groves has time to rebuild and Froch should go to Vegas for his finale and it wouldn,t be against  Ward as the guy won,t leave the west coast.
Degale  wont be happy but that IBF belt will become vacant

Groves weakness in stamina cost him the first fight and those question marks over his ability to last 12 rounds at this level are still there after the rematch. If he could have fought with the same intensity in the second meeting that he did in the first he surely would have. Only he knows how much he had left going into the second part of the first fight. Personally think he was on empty at the end of the 6th despite having not taken that much from Froch.

that was the super6 final  , he doesn,t get to choose the venue for that fight does he ?? almost every other recent fight is in California incl some of the other super 6 fights ,most of them 7 outside fights were earlier in his career ,



teedoubleu
teedoubleu 02 Jun 14 12:00 Joined: 18 Mar 08 | Topic/replies: 40 | Blogger: teedoubleu's blog
So much rubbish talked about this fight its unreal.Ward beat Froch in Atlantic city and unless Vegas has moved its certainly alot closer to the west coast than Atlantic city.

Keep hearing Froch say 'I beat Ward on my best night'. Good lord.

Don't recall calling him unbeatable anywhere there, but what, from what you've seen from Froch over his career, makes you think that he'd be the man to do the job? He's already took on Ward, a Ward carrying a broken hand, and was completely outclassed.

Ward's been inactive yeah, in that same timeframe Froch's taken heavy punishment in the Kessler fight and been put on his kex and seriously hurt by a fighter who'd never mixed in legitimate world level beforehand. Refs and comfort zone? He's fought all over the world to great success as an amateur, seems the sort to take anything in his stride, supremely confident individual. 

During the super 6 I slightly favoured Dirrell to beat Ward in the fight that never happened, so no, I don't think putting a 1 in his loss column is unachievable. But Froch, with that cumbersome style, flat footwork and horrendously gaping defence? Not for me or the majority of fight fans who leave the Union Jack tinted glasses in the case, I'd imagine. In terms of style making fights, that result is virtually mission impossible.

Hope it happens though, at Wembley. Sky and the likes of yourself, carrying this clouded opinion of Carl's capabilities, will make Andre a potential bank job.

lol, clouded opinion

The only thing my opinion has been clouded by is seeing Froch overcome stylistic disadvantages and win fights he "can't win" before. In the first fight with Ward I think I gave him 1 or 2 rounds at best, he was befuddled by Ward's inside game and couldn't find a way to win rounds but it was no ass kicking and Ward knew he had been in a fight at the end of it. Is it impossible for him to make some adjustments? There was no way he would be able to cope with the the speed of Bute, the movement of Dirrell or the accuracy of Groves too remember?

His amateur career has no real bearing on the point about being kept in his comfort zone...his professional style requires leniency from refs due to the excessive holding and butting it's a simple fact. Then there's the Victor Conte angle.

The fight seems pretty unlikely to ever happen imo, very hard to make when the No 1 fighter is not the financial draw but even it it does I doubt you'd be getting much of a price...don't think anybody, even Froch, is saying he'd easily beat Andre Ward. What would you prefer Froch to say "I'd never beat Ward"?

Can't really believe any sort of case is being made for Froch when it comes to Ward by anyone here, but whatever, everybody's entitled to an opinon.

Adjustments though? Andre Ward had a broken hand fella, do you not think that might adjust his own game in the positive direction a few notches, if a rematch was to happen?

I had Dirrell winning by a couple but to claim everybody was saying Froch wouldn't be able to cope with the young American's movement beforehand is bonkers, wasn't Dirrell 100-30ish for the fight? He destroyed Bute impressively, but the Romanian had a terribly padded record and unknown real pedigree. For me he impressed majorly in the Groves rematch for however long it took to throw the faint and then the knockout punch. Before it he was the same old Carl, plodding, ugly combinations in straight lines, getting caught with power shot counters. In the first fight his most impressive tool, like for most of his career, was his ability to stay standing after getting caught with a shed load of shots.

The attributes above just don't beat Ward and I don't see him having the ability or smarts adjust enough to make it remotely close. What do you think he could do differently to make it closer, against an Andre Ward with two healthy hands? If Ward gets a ref who breaks them up, he'll dance around Froch from the outside all night.

Wouldn't expect him to say he'll never beat Ward, rather Carl just say he'd like to avenge the defeat, remark on how much of a big fight the rematch could be. Saying 'he beats him on his best night' is the sort of comment that turns off fight fans from warming to him.

to be fair duke I don't think there's much Froch could say that would ever have some fans warming to him...there are plenty like yourself who just plain don't like the bloke and and can't wait to chip away at his record. As you say that's fair enough, everyone is allowed an opinion but as long as people keep **** on him I'll keep popping  up to argue the case ...for me he is a once in a generation British fighter and it'll be a massive loss when he hangs em up.

You say he doesn't have the ability or smarts to adjust, I disagree. He may look ungainly at times but you don't continually beat world class fighters or have a quality amateur career without having some boxing ability. I'm probably wasting my breath here cos you seem to be insinuating that Groves 2 was just the story of one good punch...despite the fact he was manoeuvring Groves and setting up that right hand all night.

Hopefully Ward would be as stupid as Groves and expect a world class athlete like Froch to go in to the rematch doing exactly the same things that caused himself trouble in the first fight...somehow though I expect Ward  would be smart enough to realise that Mcracken and Froch would realise they need to improve and make some tactical adjustments.

The obvious place to start would be on the inside where Froch was least effective and took most damage in the first fight. When Ward got up close Froch would panic and either flail away ineffectively allowing ward to fire in the uppercut or froch would wrestle himself free and take a clean hook on the way out. He'd need to have a clear tactic of either tying up completely and waiting for the ref to split them or covering up properly and picking single hard shots to the body inbetween Wards punches.

Froch's lazy jab let him down too in the 1st fight, Ward was able to see him lunging in with it every time and get his own off first. Ward is always going to be quicker so he needs to be more economical with the jab and throw it a little shorter...single jabs to avoid giving Ward counters or he'll lose control of the distance again. I was impressed with how he controlled the distance against Groves this time round so we know he can make adjustments...granted it's very likely Ward will be making adjustments himself whereas Groves just seemed surprised.

I'm not for once second saying it would be an easy nights work but I really don't think there's any harm in Froch saying he beats Ward on his best night...you damn well know that Froch believes that.

Anyway, a nice modest Froch interview here in case anybody missed it

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/latest/feature/exclusive-carl-froch-interview-i-have-sent-horrible-george-groves-back-down-the-hole-he-crawled-out-of

The problem with Froch is he should be a national treasure considering his fantastic achievements in the sport but he is not, while most English people want him to win against foreign opposition i would say half those people don't like him because he is a tool.The term self praise is no praise was made for him.

^^^ correct