Build-up begins as tickets go on sale and two rivals come face-to-face.
Ahead of their highly-anticipated rematch at Wembley on May 31, George Groves has insisted that Carl Froch knows that he can’t win a fight he didn’t want.
After their controversial first fight which Froch won, the rematch was an inevitably after many believed that it was stopped prematurely.
The IBF insisted on a rematch after referee Howard Foster was deemed to have stepped in too soon, with Froch award the victory in the ninth round.
However, the pair wasted little time in renewing their animosity in the build-up to their first press conference, and Groves was back to work in an attempt to rile Froch in their first head-to-head.
“We’re back here – we’ve got the rematch. We’ve got it at Wembley he told the assembled media.
“Carl Froch has been mandated for a fight he doesn’t want to take, a fight he knows he can’t possibly win.
“It was a stonewall robbery first time – everyone knows it.”
With speculation ahead of the venue announcement suggesting that the City Ground in Nottingham was a potential winner, it was decided that Wembley would host what will be a huge night for British boxing, and Groves looked to play up the importance of having a ‘home crowd’.
“It gives me great joy this is happening
“He didn’t want to take this fight, that’s round one to me.
“Round two is that we are sitting in Wembley – my home city. Carl’s got to travel down to London now, all the way down to my hometown in front of my fans.
“It’s a national event. This is my crowd. Maybe it’s fate, everything happens for a reason.
“The first fight we went in believing, now we go in knowing.
“He knows he can’t take anything from the first fight. He had nothing, he knew he was totally spent.”
While the 25-year-old stopped short of giving the media an idea of what he plans to do in the rematch, Groves is undoubtedly relishing the prospect of facing his rival again, while Froch was adamant that he will not make the same mistakes and will remain focused on the task in hand instead of being distracted by all the talk.
COMMENTS