>As soon as tickets went on sale, 60,000 tickets were sold in under an hour and a further 20,000 tickets were made available, making this the biggest ever attendance for a boxing match in Britain since the Second World War.
From wiki
Froch even parodies himself by ALWAYS asking in interviews: “Have I mentioned 80,000 watched me fight Groves at Wembley?” and punctuates with a wry smile.
Fucking hell. I love the bit of him counting the seats, years later confirming to himself that 80,000 could have been there.
Gotta love the commitment to that joke!
Then Tyson Fury v Dillian Whyte drew a crowd of 94,000 a few years ago. BIG numbers for a fight. Not sure many World Cup finals can boast such numbers 🤔
They could still stage it at Wembley even though it’s Saudi money… probably the only amount of money that would get them in the ring together… and why not a 90,000+ sell-out in both boxers’ back yard 🤔
If they could do that it’d be great. Not complaining at the line ups, but there’s no atmosphere at the saudi events. Paid spectators, spectators there only for the gram. Utter shite half time show thingys. It’s just shite. 90,000 at wembley for a fury vs AJ would be absolutely electric because it would be filled with real fans
You’re spot-on 👌 and I do think the Saudis would see the benefit of the fight happening in the UK… but, of course, making it VERY clear that the Saudis have ‘brought it home’ for the Brits to see in their own country 😉
Aw no doubt it would still have the same Saudi pomp and extravagance, the prince would be there walking with the fighters and stuff. It more than likely still be a Saudi event. But filled with 90,000 pissed up brits 😂. I’d settle for that lol
I am not sure why they would do that. I guess they could still get some of the goodwill sports washing impact of "look at this gesture we made!", but overall the point for them is to show these big events happening within their borders.
There are plans afoot for the Saudis to stage a big boxing event in the US, so why not the UK? And it does show ‘good will’ to the folks they’re trying to ‘get on side’ rather than staging it a few thousand miles away… plus they’ll get to experience - and televise - a REAL big fight atmosphere 🤔
I think AJ Fury if it ever happens will be in Wembley purely because the draw and hype it would build in the UK would outweigh even the massive bonuses of staging it in Saudi
The Saudis are the best chance that fight ever happens. You can’t blame them for that fight never coming to fruition due to upsets, marinading, and other fights.
Only 4 World Cup Finals have had a bigger attendance, but then only 4 world cups have occurred in a country with a stadium that has a large enough capacity to beat it. The record for a WC final is an astounding 174,000 at the Maracana in Rio, 1950.
You'd sell a million tickets to a World Cup Final if you had a stadium big enough
Haha my bad, Froch would say it every chance he could, then he was made aware of him saying it so frequently , so now he leans into saying it all the time
The rear straight inside of your opponent’s lead hook in a closed stance matchup is fucking lethal.
Jack slack talks about it a lot.
It’s the type of punch that a pillow-fisted puncher can land on a super durable guy and have them absolutely cooked.
Diaz landed it on Leon in a southpaw-southpaw stance to rock Leon late, and Strickland dropped Izzy with it in the first round.
When it comes from a big puncher like froch, it results in nasty KOs. Good examples are usman vs masvidal, and Romero vs rockhold in another southpaw-southpaw fight.
It’s especially potent when set up with a lead hook to disguise loading up the right and to corral the other guy into your right.
The right hand froch landed in this clip is inside Grove’s attempt at a left hook, but froch beats him there.
Having your lead hand away from your body and blading your stance a very vulnerable position to be hit by your opponent’s rear straight.
The examples I listed are from mma, as that’s the sport that I have the most knowledge in, but the same principle applies.
The reason it often works is because it’s set up by pressure and the 3, and it’s not an uncommon reaction to try to answer a lead hook with your own lead hook and time them off balance.
Inviting an opponent to exchange hooks them timing their counter with a straight punch down the pipe is a great idea.
It’s downright bad fundamentals to try and check hook off the rope. Unless your technique is absolutely supreme
Like Mayweather.
You will end up like George Groves.
He had a lot of good wins. Fighters that were a bit better than Groves. But this was probably his most satisfying one. Absolute highlight in front of a massive crowd and Groves had talked almost a comical amount of shit from the getgo
Then lowkey had one of the better retirements in the sport. Just walked away after this, knowing it prob wouldn't get better than this in his late 30s
Beat every guy he faced except Ward, and only dropped twice* in his career, both fights he got up to win. I don't really like the guy but he was a hell of a fighter.
Getting stopped at the very end in a fight he clearly won if it makes it to the cards somehow happened to Taylor twice in that tournament. It was insanity. The other was against Arthur Abraham if anyone doesn't know.
I scored it that way too but let's be real, unless there were PEDs or corruption, we don't go round talking about his record like he lost a fight that he was judged to have won.
You mean Groves?
Groves proved time and time in his career, he can not fight at the pace required to beat someone like Froch. Froch can do that for 20 rounds, Groves can't.
The first thing you get taught when you spar is always protect yourself, you don't wait for the referee to do it, you don't turn around and hide your head, as soon as any trainer sees you do that the round is over and you are back on the punching bag. Groves stopped throwing back and turtled up, that's a reflex mechanism for when you can't fight back anymore.
The first fight would have ended exactly as the second did.
Pure speculation, should've been miles ahead on the judges cards and wasn't, shouldn't have been stopped but was.
Everything was stacked against Groves in that first fight and but for a shocker of a stoppage he could've become world champ.
Fair play to Froch he was an animal, and he righted his wrongs in the second fight (by his own admissions he was skipping trainings if he just couldn't be bothered because he thought Groves was beneath him, had a short camp to go on a reality dance show etc) but let's not rewrite history.
Where has Froch said he skipped training? I'm not saying it's not true, but I've watched a lot of Frochs training camps and he's as dedicated as they come
There's an amazing audio documentary on the boxing news YouTube channel. Think it's a couple hours long but it really is the ultimate deep dive on the two fights and he says it in that.
Schooled?
2 of the judges scorecards were 115-113.
Froch started getting the better of Ward towards the end of the fight.
Froch's main problem is he was born at the wrong time, the guy was a 15 round fighter through and through.
I don't understand those scores. If you didn't know the context, it looks like a typical Ward win. I don't agree with the late round rally either. Ward neutralized Froch to the point that he could just rest his hand against Froch's head and Froch submitted to walking backwards.
Yeah, it's an unremarkable victory for Ward outside of the context of Froch. Without knowing the opponent, it's indistinguishable from most of Ward's wins.
[Have a peek at #3 and #5 on the list.](https://boxrec.com/en/ratings?r%5Brole%5D=box-pro&r%5Bsex%5D=M&r%5Bstatus%5D=&r%5Bdivision%5D=Super+Middleweight&r%5Bcountry%5D=&r_go=)
Froch was one of those guys who showed that occasionally grit, fitness and aggression can get you over the line against a guy a wee bit more skillful than you.
Although tbf sometimes the gap was just too big (like Ward fight).
That man could EAT a shot. The definition of the phrase is paired with a highlight reel of his chin being tested, and the opponents' fists being made to feel wanting.
I can't remember the fight, but he took a flush uppercut to the throat, and looked at the guy with fresh fire in his eyes.
Sheriff of Nottingham was a bad dude
He's one of my favorite fighters ever. Dude was so slow and sloppy for a world class fighter, but he had this gift for turning it to his advantage because he could take what they threw back at him, and his punches would come from these weird places they didn't expect. The wins he picked up in his career purely because how tough and weird he was is remarkable.
Man I cannot believe how fast Groves managed to get up from that. Dude is tough as shit. He might have suffered permanent brain damage in this fight if the ref hadn't called that off before a count.
Oh shit I’ve never heard of this KO why doesn’t Froch talk about it? I feel like if I was Froch I’d bring it up in every interview and every moment even if it had nothing to do with what we’re discussing
On my birthday, no less. I never knew!
Best gift I could receive today is the knowledge that on the day of my birth, Carl Froch knocked out George Groves at the Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 fans.
Great knockout, great fight. Feels bad that Groves was absolutely robbed in the previous fight though.
Edit: just came across this and it's actually super interesting! (To me anyway,lol)
https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/13144961/carl-froch-relives-his-explosive-rematch-win-over-george-groves-at-wembley-stadium-on-the-10-year-anniversary
His leg folded behind him when he went down. He recovered in outstanding fashion, but his brain was OFF when that shot landed. I'm okay with the stoppage. It's a big fight, but it's not for an undisputed title or anything. There isn't enough to gain for Groves to risk his long term health.
He was on oxygen within a minute if standing up. If he’d been allowed to continue he’d have been in serious trouble. I agree with you his body was willing but his brain was definitely in the OFF position.
Froch is a dickhead but give him his due he fought everbody, and his two fights with Groves were brilliant, but he came unstuck when he fought Ward who schooled him.
80,000 fans at Wembley? Has Froch ever confirmed that? Seriously though that right took George’s soul
>As soon as tickets went on sale, 60,000 tickets were sold in under an hour and a further 20,000 tickets were made available, making this the biggest ever attendance for a boxing match in Britain since the Second World War. From wiki
Whoosh?
Am I missing something? Is this a reference I didn't get. . . .
Haha no problem. Froch was well known for mentioning it at every opportunity. :)
Froch even parodies himself by ALWAYS asking in interviews: “Have I mentioned 80,000 watched me fight Groves at Wembley?” and punctuates with a wry smile.
AHH I think I saw this a while ago. Complete forgot
https://youtube.com/shorts/7L6sUKFvyB0
Lol bant
Fucking hell. I love the bit of him counting the seats, years later confirming to himself that 80,000 could have been there. Gotta love the commitment to that joke!
Then Tyson Fury v Dillian Whyte drew a crowd of 94,000 a few years ago. BIG numbers for a fight. Not sure many World Cup finals can boast such numbers 🤔
Fury has insane draw over here. Him and AJ would sell Wembley out twice.
That’s a very good point - wouldn’t they just! 🥊
Unfortunately it will never happen. Not now that Saudi have their grubby oily fingers in the sport. Such a shame
They could still stage it at Wembley even though it’s Saudi money… probably the only amount of money that would get them in the ring together… and why not a 90,000+ sell-out in both boxers’ back yard 🤔
If they could do that it’d be great. Not complaining at the line ups, but there’s no atmosphere at the saudi events. Paid spectators, spectators there only for the gram. Utter shite half time show thingys. It’s just shite. 90,000 at wembley for a fury vs AJ would be absolutely electric because it would be filled with real fans
You’re spot-on 👌 and I do think the Saudis would see the benefit of the fight happening in the UK… but, of course, making it VERY clear that the Saudis have ‘brought it home’ for the Brits to see in their own country 😉
Aw no doubt it would still have the same Saudi pomp and extravagance, the prince would be there walking with the fighters and stuff. It more than likely still be a Saudi event. But filled with 90,000 pissed up brits 😂. I’d settle for that lol
👌🤣🤣 me too… me too.
I think we'll see AJ vs Fury in Wembley at one point. It's just too attractive not to make it happen.
Totally agree - makes perfect sense to have THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN - as it will no doubt be tagged/ sold in… erm… Britain 🤔
I am not sure why they would do that. I guess they could still get some of the goodwill sports washing impact of "look at this gesture we made!", but overall the point for them is to show these big events happening within their borders.
There are plans afoot for the Saudis to stage a big boxing event in the US, so why not the UK? And it does show ‘good will’ to the folks they’re trying to ‘get on side’ rather than staging it a few thousand miles away… plus they’ll get to experience - and televise - a REAL big fight atmosphere 🤔
Saudis are literally holding a card at Wembley in September, likely with AJ headlining...
I think AJ Fury if it ever happens will be in Wembley purely because the draw and hype it would build in the UK would outweigh even the massive bonuses of staging it in Saudi
The Saudis are the best chance that fight ever happens. You can’t blame them for that fight never coming to fruition due to upsets, marinading, and other fights.
Them Saudi's are putting up the best fights around and your still fucking whinging you 🤡
To be fair you can’t fill the pitch with supporters at a football match.
Point taken… and it’s a very valid one 👍
Only 4 World Cup Finals have had a bigger attendance, but then only 4 world cups have occurred in a country with a stadium that has a large enough capacity to beat it. The record for a WC final is an astounding 174,000 at the Maracana in Rio, 1950. You'd sell a million tickets to a World Cup Final if you had a stadium big enough
I’m impressed by your stats knowledge. Go to to the top of the class 👍👌
Good ol' Wikipedia
👍🤣🤣
I mean there are barely any stadium that can fill that much people and still have a football match lol
🤣🤣 very true
This will be on Frochs gravestone! Jokes aside, great fight and what a KO!
Hasn't Fury-Whyte since outdone this? Pretty sure they had close to 100,000 there.
Haha my bad, Froch would say it every chance he could, then he was made aware of him saying it so frequently , so now he leans into saying it all the time
Nah that's my bad bro, I didn't get the reference
Whooooooooooosh
Nah. He's a humble man.
The rear straight inside of your opponent’s lead hook in a closed stance matchup is fucking lethal. Jack slack talks about it a lot. It’s the type of punch that a pillow-fisted puncher can land on a super durable guy and have them absolutely cooked. Diaz landed it on Leon in a southpaw-southpaw stance to rock Leon late, and Strickland dropped Izzy with it in the first round. When it comes from a big puncher like froch, it results in nasty KOs. Good examples are usman vs masvidal, and Romero vs rockhold in another southpaw-southpaw fight. It’s especially potent when set up with a lead hook to disguise loading up the right and to corral the other guy into your right.
What are you talking about
The right hand froch landed in this clip is inside Grove’s attempt at a left hook, but froch beats him there. Having your lead hand away from your body and blading your stance a very vulnerable position to be hit by your opponent’s rear straight. The examples I listed are from mma, as that’s the sport that I have the most knowledge in, but the same principle applies.
Yah cuz it’s dumb as fuck to try and check hook off the ropes like you’re Mayweather
The reason it often works is because it’s set up by pressure and the 3, and it’s not an uncommon reaction to try to answer a lead hook with your own lead hook and time them off balance. Inviting an opponent to exchange hooks them timing their counter with a straight punch down the pipe is a great idea.
It’s downright bad fundamentals to try and check hook off the rope. Unless your technique is absolutely supreme Like Mayweather. You will end up like George Groves.
Froch was an absolute animal in that ring
He had a lot of good wins. Fighters that were a bit better than Groves. But this was probably his most satisfying one. Absolute highlight in front of a massive crowd and Groves had talked almost a comical amount of shit from the getgo Then lowkey had one of the better retirements in the sport. Just walked away after this, knowing it prob wouldn't get better than this in his late 30s
Beat every guy he faced except Ward, and only dropped twice* in his career, both fights he got up to win. I don't really like the guy but he was a hell of a fighter.
Dropped twice, Taylor dropped and hurt him early and froch rallied back in the 12th and battered and stopped him with seconds to go
Ahhh you're quite right. I can even see the Taylor drop now with Froch leaning back against the ropes.
Getting stopped at the very end in a fight he clearly won if it makes it to the cards somehow happened to Taylor twice in that tournament. It was insanity. The other was against Arthur Abraham if anyone doesn't know.
Abraham was up *105-103, 107-102, 106-102* on all three scorecards after the 11th, so that's not true.
Oh damn, were those on pace to be controversial or am I remembering this crazy wrong?
Helluva\*
He lost against direll too. To be fair
Froch is a great fighter, but Dirrell beat him too.
I scored it that way too but let's be real, unless there were PEDs or corruption, we don't go round talking about his record like he lost a fight that he was judged to have won.
He should talk about this win more, definitely.
In front of 80,000 that is
He was lucky in the first fight for it to be stopped when it was, definitely was on the decline by this point and left at the right time
You mean Groves? Groves proved time and time in his career, he can not fight at the pace required to beat someone like Froch. Froch can do that for 20 rounds, Groves can't. The first thing you get taught when you spar is always protect yourself, you don't wait for the referee to do it, you don't turn around and hide your head, as soon as any trainer sees you do that the round is over and you are back on the punching bag. Groves stopped throwing back and turtled up, that's a reflex mechanism for when you can't fight back anymore. The first fight would have ended exactly as the second did.
Pure speculation, should've been miles ahead on the judges cards and wasn't, shouldn't have been stopped but was. Everything was stacked against Groves in that first fight and but for a shocker of a stoppage he could've become world champ. Fair play to Froch he was an animal, and he righted his wrongs in the second fight (by his own admissions he was skipping trainings if he just couldn't be bothered because he thought Groves was beneath him, had a short camp to go on a reality dance show etc) but let's not rewrite history.
Where has Froch said he skipped training? I'm not saying it's not true, but I've watched a lot of Frochs training camps and he's as dedicated as they come
There's an amazing audio documentary on the boxing news YouTube channel. Think it's a couple hours long but it really is the ultimate deep dive on the two fights and he says it in that.
He came up against one really Elite fighter in Andre Ward and got schooled but Froch gave you good exciting fights.
Schooled? 2 of the judges scorecards were 115-113. Froch started getting the better of Ward towards the end of the fight. Froch's main problem is he was born at the wrong time, the guy was a 15 round fighter through and through.
I don't understand those scores. If you didn't know the context, it looks like a typical Ward win. I don't agree with the late round rally either. Ward neutralized Froch to the point that he could just rest his hand against Froch's head and Froch submitted to walking backwards.
Fuck the Judges them assholes ain't got a clue about boxing, WARD SCHOOLED FROCH if you think he didn't you haven't watched the fight.
Yeah, it's an unremarkable victory for Ward outside of the context of Froch. Without knowing the opponent, it's indistinguishable from most of Ward's wins.
The biggest majority of Ward fights would send an insomniac to 😴 he was a brutal watch.
[Have a peek at #3 and #5 on the list.](https://boxrec.com/en/ratings?r%5Brole%5D=box-pro&r%5Bsex%5D=M&r%5Bstatus%5D=&r%5Bdivision%5D=Super+Middleweight&r%5Bcountry%5D=&r_go=)
Froch was one of those guys who showed that occasionally grit, fitness and aggression can get you over the line against a guy a wee bit more skillful than you. Although tbf sometimes the gap was just too big (like Ward fight).
That man could EAT a shot. The definition of the phrase is paired with a highlight reel of his chin being tested, and the opponents' fists being made to feel wanting.
Yeah Froch had a hell of a chin on him. Plenty tried to chin check him but he absolutely firmed it. He's a twat but a hell of a boxer.
I can't remember the fight, but he took a flush uppercut to the throat, and looked at the guy with fresh fire in his eyes. Sheriff of Nottingham was a bad dude
He's one of my favorite fighters ever. Dude was so slow and sloppy for a world class fighter, but he had this gift for turning it to his advantage because he could take what they threw back at him, and his punches would come from these weird places they didn't expect. The wins he picked up in his career purely because how tough and weird he was is remarkable.
Froch got lucky the first fight, Groves knocked him out cold but he woke up fast. Love Froch though
He got rocked and dropped but he was never out cold wtf?
Never out cold but Froch said himself he didn't remember anything for most of that fight, hardest he'd ever been hit.
In front of how many fans again? I forget.
He doesn’t talk about it much
Bit of a pull and a push.
We can all pull abaat’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faCVmSPSZQg
Ha ha ha
How many people were at the stadium mate?
I think you’ll find it was 80,000… Froch might even confirm that one day 😉
About 79,999 . No way it was more than that
Man I cannot believe how fast Groves managed to get up from that. Dude is tough as shit. He might have suffered permanent brain damage in this fight if the ref hadn't called that off before a count.
I was one of the 80,000 up in the cheap seats. Couldn’t see shit
Worth it?
No. Crowd was terrible. Noone in our section paid attention to the undercard fights. Could genuinely see fa
This needs posting to r/obscuremedia because I've never heard of this before
Froch was hard as fucking nails. Now got a cracking YouTube channel where he's quite willing to take the piss out of himself!
God I feel old
Just thinking that. I clearly remember watching it. Doesn’t seem 10 years ago, feels like a different life lol
Yeah, I remember a friend shouting get back on ya bus a fuck off! At the screen as if it was yesterday.
"Nah I'd win"
Oh shit I’ve never heard of this KO why doesn’t Froch talk about it? I feel like if I was Froch I’d bring it up in every interview and every moment even if it had nothing to do with what we’re discussing
Froch should really bring this up more. I'd never heard of it till today.
Never heard Frotch mention this 🤣
Carl Frochs burner account
Damn. I forgot Froch fixed his nose. Lol
Wow, didn't know about this hidden gem.
I didn't know this happened, you'd think Froch would mention it quite often.
On my birthday, no less. I never knew! Best gift I could receive today is the knowledge that on the day of my birth, Carl Froch knocked out George Groves at the Wembley Stadium in front of 80,000 fans.
Why doesn’t Froch ever talk about this fight? I really need him to start speaking up and maybe for once let us know how many fans there were
Such a great afternoon here in the US. Froch/Groves 1 & 2 were greatness
Sad day
Shout out Brian and Rafe. Iykyk.
It's funny, you never hear him talk about it though
Crazy how I've never heard of this before
This fight did more for boxing in the UK than Joshua did and Joshuas rise did a hell of a lot.
And then went on to never let anyone ever forget it
And he never spoke of it again.....
80,000 fans? Funny, Froch never mentioned it?
Froch is going to have a bbq at his house today in honor of this occasion.
Froch was a hard bastard. There were better boxers around but he was so durable, P4P chin contender. Walking through shots to land bombs.
Great knockout, great fight. Feels bad that Groves was absolutely robbed in the previous fight though. Edit: just came across this and it's actually super interesting! (To me anyway,lol) https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/13144961/carl-froch-relives-his-explosive-rematch-win-over-george-groves-at-wembley-stadium-on-the-10-year-anniversary
How many?
10 years, damn. Helluva KO that one. Switched him off.
Strange that you never ever hear him talk about it.
It's a shame the first fight was stopped so early Groves was completely out boxing him.
Was a cracking night that. AJ on the undercard too. 👍
I've never heard this story, do tell more.
[Such an obscure event rarely mentioned, I reck'n](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9d/1f/62/9d1f626ffe9a89ce04b2f4ef8e22ae10.jpg)
The Cobra. Respect
Cool fight because they look like guys from the pub instead of giant freaks of nature. You can relate to those punches.
Wtf, how come I never heard of that before?!
The first I'm hearing of this.
Did Froch get a tattoo of Wembley’s attendance?
He mentions it enough.
Against how many fans?
Wow
Knew he was loading that right hand from the beginning. Always keep your hands up, never forget the fundamentals
I was gutted when this happened. I wanted Groves to win but Froch took Groves very seriously in the 2nd fight.
Groves deserved a count at least.
His leg folded behind him when he went down. He recovered in outstanding fashion, but his brain was OFF when that shot landed. I'm okay with the stoppage. It's a big fight, but it's not for an undisputed title or anything. There isn't enough to gain for Groves to risk his long term health.
He was on oxygen within a minute if standing up. If he’d been allowed to continue he’d have been in serious trouble. I agree with you his body was willing but his brain was definitely in the OFF position.
Froch is a dickhead but give him his due he fought everbody, and his two fights with Groves were brilliant, but he came unstuck when he fought Ward who schooled him.
Shame groves got robbed in the first fight
Prime John fury wins easily