The much hyped rematch between British 168 pound champion Carl Froch and London fan favorite George Groves was a load of shit in a bowtie. The 20 minutes of fanfare was so inappropriate and unmanly it made my jaw drop. The fight itself was dreadfully amateurish on a technical level. I work with amateurs that are much more skilled than either of these guys. But with pro fighters a lot of it comes down to how much you can take and how much you can give.

Froch does almost everything wrong, but he is tough and hits hard. His defense is so abysmal it makes him dangerous as his choppy right counter is a nasty weapon. I want to see Froch fight Chavez. That will be fun.

Groves was just a tough poorly schooled fighter who kept his left hand low on his hip like Froch but did not have the block head to absorb the right hands. In the end Groves winged a loopy left and Froch dissected it with a choppy right, folding the younger guy up like a lawn chair. If you are wondering why Froch did not murder Groves with crosses all night long, it was because his rear foot is almost always out of position. His rear heel is lined up with his lead heel, preventing leg, hip and shoulder action from being torqued into the right. The lady that watched the fight with me said, “Where are the swords?” as she equated their body mechanics with what she has seen in movie sword fights!

This is a good fight for young fighters to watch to understand the pitfalls of the English style of boxing: reaching with the jab, a low guard [look, limey pugs, if you are going to imitate black American fighters, the low guard is the one thing you should have dispensed with, not the only thing you borrowed!]. This fight also shows the reason why you have to have a technically sound game, because there are knuckleheads like Froch out there that will stumble around the ring all night and then rip your head off when you leave a gap in your game.

Froch did get my respect when he gave the laces to Groves with such authority that he actually cross-faced the kid to the floor!

Froch was too wide from front to back, and too narrow from side-to side. He reached with his jab, had a terrible guard, and threw choppy rather than clean punches.

Groves was too wide from front to back. He shelled up when he got in trouble, and even when he didn’t. He reached with his jab, had a terrible guard, and threw loopy rather than clean punches.

When two sloppy amateurs go at it choppy beats loopy to the punch and may the thicker skull win.

Max Kellerman, boxing king of snark, said it well, “Kids don’t keep your left hand down by your hip.”