Paddy Fitzpatrick role in Froch v Groves

Something that hasn't really been mentioned amongst all the reaction to the fight.

Don't think he had anything to do with Groves tactics personally, think that was all worked out under Booth, but think he should have had more of an influence in the corner. Groves was winning the fight, he must have known that, but in Round 7 onwards, Groves was starting to get dragged into a trading war with 'the international superstar'. Surely he should have insisted Groves kept his distance more from Froch, as he was doing expertly, or simply instructed him to box on the backfoot? I think if Booth was in the corner, Groves would have won the fight.

Groves is definitely one of my favourite boxers now. You've got to be a certain way inclined to become a boxer, but I think psychologically and mentally, Groves is one of the best around, even though he's still relatively young and inexperienced. He's just totally unfazed and unmoved by anything.

I hope they do have a rematch personally, but I don't think Froch will take it. He knows he got out of jail on Saturday night, I thought he looked unsteady in the legs pretty much the whole fight, and his post fight interview just confirmed what most people are starting to realise; he truly is a loathsome, arrogant person. His brother are pair of brutish morons as well, particularly Lee Froch. Hopefully he pursues Ward, who humiliates him every day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

I'm not sure what difference any trainer would have made as it looked like Groves had decided quite early that he wanted to knock Froch out so didn't bother winning rounds on the back foot.
Can't really blame him either after seeing the cards.

I thought the trainer did a good job..........Took him in got him ready and he fought superbly...

In the heat of battle you don't always have the chance to remember what was said...........You are in there on your own and have to take it as it comes..

I dont know if Booth would have made any differance. The deck was stacked against Groves and he would have really had dominate the last 3 rounds to win the fight when you consider after 9 rounds it would have been level on the judges cards at best for Groves. I do think Groves made an error trying to hard to stop Froch although its understandable given the success he was having against Froch. He just needed to avoid trading and stick to pinging Froch with the jab and right hand. A real shame we were deprived of seeing how it would have concluded.

Ive always though Froch was a horrible pr1ck and a total hypocrite out of the ring. He is entertaining and displays a lot of courage and will in the ring so that draws fans. But he is insufferable to listen to. His out of the ring personality is nothing like what he is in the ring. I think the lines between what he does in and out of the ring get blurred though which is why he is popular. Fan friendly fighters usually are popular even if they are tools.

Groves was controlling the fight on the front foot beating Froch to the jab and rocking him to his boots with the overhand right.

The problem was, as the fight went on, he lost discipline and allowed Froch to stand in range and swing those beautiful stiff arm shots he clearly learned from Floyd.

If George had stuck to what was working Froch would have been scratching his thick head all night while Groves continued to make him look like Frankenstein's monster on his first night at the disco.

This ultimately led to GG getting clipped and the Ref making a rash decision to jump in.
I do think Adam Booth would have been hammering home the game plan all night long, because thats what he does.... and we may have seen a more clinical Groves.

George has the beating of Froch,he knows it, and I wouldn't be surprised if he runs for the hills now.

Write Froch off at your peril,not saying Groves hasn't got the beating of Froch, but equally Froch has the beating of Groves 2nd time round.

Thought Paddy was superb. He fought Georges corner vs the media and had his back the whole time. No way should Booth take all the credit even if he laid the foundations.

Oh, and as for keeping his distance, do you think inviting Froch on and trying to run is a good idea? No chance, meet him head on.

In that 6th round, Groves knew that Froch walks in square on and was wide open for a counter. He throws those wide arcing shots that Groves was ducking under beautifully at times earlier and I believe he felt that by feining distress he could lure Froch in and catch him again with counters which.....(drum roll) he did.

Like Ward, Grove decided to fight at long range, mid range and up close so that Froch didn't know what was coming next. Groves clearly showed he takes a decent punch and with the adrenaline pumping, he was able to take shots that many didn't think he's be able to. this allowed him to trade when many felt he should be moving but, sometimes the fighter just gets a sense of what's working in there despite all belief to the contrary.

Ali will have sensed that his tactics were working against Foreman and been able to adjust accordingly. Same applies to Groves...imagine Howard Foster officiating the Rumble!!!

DAVE667 wrote:In that 6th round, Groves knew that Froch walks in square on and was wide open for a counter. He throws those wide arcing shots that Groves was ducking under beautifully at times earlier and I believe he felt that by feining distress he could lure Froch in and catch him again with counters which.....(drum roll) he did.

Like Ward, Grove decided to fight at long range, mid range and up close so that Froch didn't know what was coming next. Groves clearly showed he takes a decent punch and with the adrenaline pumping, he was able to take shots that many didn't think he's be able to. this allowed him to trade when many felt he should be moving but, sometimes the fighter just gets a sense of what's working in there despite all belief to the contrary.

Ali will have sensed that his tactics were working against Foreman and been able to adjust accordingly. Same applies to Groves...imagine Howard Foster officiating the Rumble!!!

Foreman TKO 3. History looks very different.

Foreman TKO 3...........and the natives end up disembowelling the ref and cooking him in the stewing pot.......

That's the ticket..

Pretty sure he had a huge part to play considering he trained him for 10 weeks.

I would not want to be the ref in Kinshasa having just stopped Ali. Someone somewhere would get me good.

mark_england wrote:Something that hasn't really been mentioned amongst all the reaction to the fight.

Don't think he had anything to do with Groves tactics personally, think that was all worked out under Booth, but think he should have had more of an influence in the corner. Groves was winning the fight, he must have known that, but in Round 7 onwards, Groves was starting to get dragged into a trading war with 'the international superstar'. Surely he should have insisted Groves kept his distance more from Froch,

I think you have to give Paddy credit as he was with him through his whole training camp, was in his corner and got the thank you at the end of the the fight from Groves.

Regarding Groves getting into a war rather than carrying on outboxing.

Froch is a big pressure fighter, its what he does and he stays there for 12 rounds. In the first half of the fight Groves was so quick and hard hitting that Froch looked lost. He could not come forward so easy as he did not want to get floored again and was feeling Groves power. His only slight success was letting Groves throw and slipping a punch and getting inside throwing flurries which mostly his Groves guard.

So that plan was working great for Groves he was making Froch look very average.

BUT, when you hit hard, and when you move quick on your feet, constantly fainting and weaving you use allot of energy. If you notice Froch is very relaxed on his feet, arms low, and almost has a lazy style, which I think may be a contributing factor as to why he is stronger in the later rounds still.

As it got to about the 7th or 8th round, you could see that Groves was loosing a bit of speed and power, and Froch was becoming more happy to walk at Groves at take a few shots to get there..and in the 9th Froch had arrived and you could even see his body lingo was saying, "here we go, this is where I like it"

So what was working for Groves in the first part of the fight was slowly deteriorating, this meant he had to start engaging with him because he could no longer keep him behind the jab. not a tactical flaw, I just think Groves needed to stop Froch in the first 6 rounds fighting the way he did... and credit to him he nearly done it in round one and had the round gone on for another 20 seconds he probably would have.