Prior to tonight’s big HBO boxing PPV between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios, Carl Froch met George Groves in the square circle. Froch came into the fight holding the WBA and IBF SMW titles. Froch picked up the IBF title in 2011 with a win over Lucian Bute. Two fights later, having defended his belt once in the meantime, he grabbed the WBA strap from Mikkel Kesler. Groves became the IBF mandatory challenger following a 5th round TKO over Noe Gonzalez Alcoba. He was undefeated at 19-0 heading into the fight.
Groves got off first with an early knockdown in the 1st, but Froch was able to survive. The fight got progressively more wild and dirty from there. The referee issued repeated warnings to the fighters for their tactics. Finally, in the ninth round, Froch caught Groves with a flurry and the referee stepped in to stop the fight. The stoppage was controversial from the moment it was called and has been widely criticized. Talks of an immediate rematch came up quickly.
Check out the action in the GIFs below from BE’s own Zombie Prophet: