Some Interesting debating points you've raised there mate. Please allow my rebuttal :)
I went into this fighting wanting and expecting Froch to win with ease. I know he has an ego, but he's World Champ, and I've always been a fan of his somewhat flawed but cavaliered style. And lets face it, he's fought everybody, everywhere, eleven World Title fights on the bounce allows rooms for a certain element of ego.
I agree, nearly every great athlete has that ego. It's expected from those who achieve great things in their respective fields. Froch's whole aura is totally different though. He's a very bitter man IMO. That all stems from not being given the recognition he thought he deserved, when he was on the rise. Unfortunately for him, he was forever in the shadow of Calzaghe, Hatton & Khan who were all bigger draws at the time. They were PPV draws. Froch simply wasn't. And from that evolved (again IMO) a very bitter man. Notice how he's always talking about how tough he is, what a warrior he is, how hard he's had it etc etc, it's almost like he's trying to reinforce these thoughts into the public's minds, incase he falls out of the limelight again. Now you could argue that many boxers have done this, but to me, only Froch comes across as desperate.
Second part of Froch's attitude, again I don't understand. He kept saying Groves had disrespected him? But how? How/what did Groves do exactly? To me, Froch was the one who was being childish? Saying Groves breath stunk, mocking Groves' outfit at the press conference, even Froch's
mum stuck her oar in & proclaimed that George would be leaving the ring on a stretcher. What did Groves do? He said he'd beat Froch, he said how he'd beat him, he highlighted his weaknesses. Apart from that, I can't see anything out of the ordinary from usual pre-match needle? IMHO I believe Froch got the hump, and didn't believe Groves was "greatfull" for the title shot & didn't parade out the usual Froch cliches, "he's a warrior" etc.
I did not expect what I saw from Groves that night though. I've watched Groves career with some apathy, I was there when he laboured over deGale (probably the only DeGale fan in the building too), and although he looked technically good, I never really saw anything special in his early fight, bar perhaps his stoppage of Johnson, but only because Froch himself had struggled to a points victory against him. It was bizarrley enough, Groves imitation of Johnson's overhand right fighting style that brought him so much success against Froch - but obviously with a lot more technical ability.
Groves has come on leaps & bounds. I don't think you've given him enough credit for the DeGale fight though. He went into that fight as a massive underdog, about 9/1 IIRC? And showed his technical ability then.
I can clearly recall, standing outside of the O2 Arena, just after Froch had beat Kessler, and telling my mates, IF Groves-Froch happens, Groves wins. Of course, I was ridiculed & laughed at (should point out a lot of my mates are "casual" fans, you know the kind, they watch 1 big fight a year & become experts overnight). Even when I pointed out that Groves style was all wrong for Froch, he's quicker, has KO power & is very tactically astute, people just responded with... "I've never seen this Groves, but Froch beats him in 4 rounds" :hilarious:
Well, I say I've never seen anything 'special' about Groves, well until that first round one two put Froch on his arse. Wow. It genuinely took my breath away, my brother and I were in shock. I wasn't even sure he would get up, so perfect were the hits he'd just taken. But credit to Froch, he did, and then went on to withstand a barrage of accurate, lethal, heavy overhand rights from George. And that was more the Froch we know, stalking his opponent with reckless abandon, taking the big hits and shaking them off. Wel partially, as usually he would be landing back, the better shots and rocking his opponent. Groves just wasn't allowing him to do that, you could argue 2 rounds Froch as Groves began to tire due to the efforts of his onslaught, another 2 close, but me a Froch fan, I had him 5 points down when the ref stopped it.
I never expected that start. I thought Groves would start strong, but he was unbelieveable. He did what he said, he beat Froch to the jab, he backed him up onto the backfoot & made Him look Old tbh. I wouldn't say Froch stalked him at all. The first 4 rounds belonged to Groves. As you said, he didn't allow Froch anything. He simply outboxed & Outclassed him. I had the fight 78-73 for Groves. You simply can't give anymore than 2-3 rounds to Froch, and those rounds that I did give him (5 & 8) were so close, you could easily make a case for either man. The other 6 though, were clear GG rounds. He had the better accuracy, the crisper jabs, the cleaner right hands, he put CF onto the back foot & even had time to slip around the ring like an elite fighter. Those 6 rounds, he dictated the pace & hit CF whenever he wanted. Carl, when he did attack, did so, in the Usual fashion, of flurrys & standing and trading. But even when they did stand and trade, GG had the better of the exchanges, Landing the more hurtful, cleaner shots. Froch hit the arms & gloves A LOT, which are not point scoring punches.
And me a Froch fan, was outraged at the stoppage. It just seemed so weak. I understand Groves was stumbling away, having received four big hits, I know this was causing him to turn his back, and I know the ref will argue that another two/three hits could have caused serious damage, but it just felt wrong. But I think that may have been more me being outraged at having such an amazing fight being ended prematurely. Yes, Froch was given a few pouundings in the earlier rounds, but he never really took a sustained beating that Groves was in the process of receiving when Foster stopped it, and he was always throwing back, something Groves wasn't doing, he wasn't defending himself, the one thing you must always be doing in the ring, the most ve important thing the ref will look for in a trouibled fighter.
I rewatched the fight the other night, and put a totally unbiased hat on, and still didn't change my mind. Make no mistake, Froch was in trouble on more than one occasion. He got up from the KD and looked ****ed. His legs were gone. 20-40 seconds extra in that round & Groves would have got him out of there. All Froch could do was try and tie Groves up & see it out. Groves had him reeling again in the 6th, at one point stiffening Froch's legs with a solid jab. But again, credit to Froch he bit down hard on that gum shield & somehow got through the round. Maybe if GG had applied more pressure, he would have ended it there & then. But that round there was no different from the punishment Groves took in the 9th round. Also, Froch looked like he poured everything into that final attack. He was breathing heavy from round 6 onwards. Theres a massive question IMO, over whether Froch could have gone another 3 rounds. I thought Groves was very rarely troubled throughout the fight. He took some nice shots, but they didn't slow him down. The few seconds before the stoppage, Groves IMO, was not taking a beating at all. Carl threw about 10 punches, but only 3-4 were clean shots. The rest hit the arms/gloves. Groves was stooped, but that's not a sign he was out in his feet, like I've seen some people claim. Infact if you rewatch the fight, in the 3rd & possibly 5th rounds, they go through very similar scenarios, where Groves is on the ropes & stoops low. But both times he escapes & continues boxing, with a clear head. These exchanges, the 6th round exchange & the final exchange in the 9th are no different. If you stop the fight in the 9th, then there's a case that it could/should have been stopped in any of those others. The biggest thing that disproves Groves was in trouble, when Foster pulls him away, and waves it off, Groves
instantly reacts with shock and disbelief. From Foster head locking him, to Groves complaints, is about 4 seconds. There's no way on this planet a fighter who's out on their feet, unable to defend themselves regains clarity in 4 seconds. No chance
Im not biased enough to say the fight wouldn't have ended in the next 10-15 seconds, but there's just as much chance that Groves would have regained his composure. No-one knows which way it could have gone. My own opinion is that Groves would have regained composure & possibly stopped Froch either in the 10th or 11th. But there's simply no way of knowing that for fact.
The Kovalev fight might just be Fosters best argument, Sillakh was on the end of a big KO, got up and was in a 50/50 state of being able to continue, he was upright, lucid and convinced the ref he was ok, the ref gave him an extra 2/3 seconds on top of the eight count, and 10 seconds later, Kovalev landed a humongous right that his opponenet was in no position to defend, and whats more, landed two more as Sillakh dropped to the canvas. Sillakh was knocked clean out, and was in a terrible state, the ref could of prevented that by not allowing him to continue when he got up at eight and was lucid, but in no way fit to continue to fight, more due to the dangerous and lethal finishing prowess of his opponent more than his ability to stand and actually box. Foster could argue, he prevented Groves from this fate. I think he's probably just about right, but we'll never really know. If I was Groves, I be ****ed at the morale victory, and would definitely push for the rematch, I think the bigger question now is whether Froch will actually take it.
I haven't seen the Kov-Sillakh fight, but The main point you need to ask, did Sillakh have any chance of winning? If he's miles behind on the cards & hasn't done a lot throughout the fight, then I can't argue with stopping the fight. But, as in Groves position, if he hasn't been in trouble at all, is clearly winning the fight, has had his opponent on the deck, then he deserves his chance to carry on. An opponent's finishing power should have no bearing on a ref's decision to stop it.
There will always be terrible refereeing decisions that go either way. Top of my head, the bad ones of recent times, Enzo Mac being dismantled by Frenkel. Denis Lebedev went 12 rounds with his eye bulging out of his head, Malignaggi went 12 with a broken jaw, Ricky Burns went 12 with a broken jaw. But on the flip side, Look at Gatti-Ward, PAC-JMM, Hearns-Hagler, Khan-Maidana, I could go on & on. All excellent bouts, which were allowed to carry on, despite severe brutality, especially Gatti-Ward, which obviously needs no explanation (and for anyone who's never seen Arturo Gatti Vs Micky Ward 1, there's a reason why it is known as THE best fight of all time)
I'll finish with this... There's a rumour doing the rounds. ALLEDGEDLY Howard Foster has admitted he was too quick to stop it, but the BBBoC WILL NOT allow him to admit this publically. These rumours were fuelled by Adam Booth's tweet... @boxingbooth: To make a mistake is human and normal..to not be allowed to ADMIT that mistake is wrong! Admission should = mandatory rematch!
The plot thickens....