WEMBLEY STADIUM HOSTS the highly-anticipated re-match between Carl Froch and George Groves on 31 May.
The two English fights clash for Froch’s World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-middleweight titles after their first encounter in November ended controversially.
60,000 tickets were sold within an hour of going on sale this afternoon and when the pair met on the Wembley pitch today, this happened:
Meanwhile, Groves is demanding non-British officials for the fight.
Groves, 25, felt referee Howard Foster stopped the fight prematurely in the ninth round after he had floored Froch, 36, in the opening round last time out.
That led Groves to appeal to the IBF to sanction a re-match, which it did, and now the Londoner does not want the domestic British Boxing Board of Control to appoint the referee.
“The British Boxing Board of Control failed me in the first fight,” Groves told a Wembley news conference held jointly with Froch on Monday.
Froch was gifted the decision by Howard Foster. We wanted neutral officials. He awarded it in Carl Froch’s favour and it cost me the fight.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn agreed with Groves that a non-British referee should be the man in the middle.
“I feel that officials for this fight, of this magnitude, should be neutral and outside of British jurisdiction,” Hearn said.
“This is too big to leave any controversy.”
But Froch, a three-time world champion at super-middleweight from Nottingham, central England, said Groves’ comments betrayed a lack of respect for both Foster and British Boxing Board of Control.
“Howard Foster is a credit to the Board and I’m not happy about it,” Froch said.
“It makes a mockery of the British Boxing Board of Control with one of the biggest fights in British boxing history and they (the Groves camp) are saying we have to have neutral officials for it.”
