I stayed home with the kids for my last title defence ... I’m not making that mistake again
World champion Carl Froch may have amassed an £18m fortune but he insists: I f ight to secure my family’s future — and I’m not done yet
THERE is a wistful look on the chiselled features of Carl Froch as he holds year-old daughter Natalia on his lap. But George Groves would be unwise to seize upon the tender mood of this photograph, taken by Froch’s partner, Rachael Cordingley, as indication that the man he is about to fight in front of 80,000 people is going soft in his sixth year as a world champion.
The moment is poignant because Froch has been rationing his cherished family time to the barest minimum during his two-and-a-half months of preparation for the re-match which will fill Wembley Stadium to throbbing capacity on Saturday night.
Baby Natalia was a distraction for the Nottingham Cobra before his controversial first fight with Groves in November. Now she has grown into an intense, additional incentive for him to put down the abrasive challenge from his fellow Englishman, this time for good.
‘I don’t like being away from Rachael and the kids,’ says Froch. ‘I didn’t think that sacrifice was necessary for the first fight with Groves so I stayed at home while training. That was one of the corners I cut which made that night more difficult for me than it should have been. I’m not making that mistake again.’
The holder of the IBF and WBA supermiddleweight titles has been spending most of his nights in spartan accommodation in Sheffield, submitting himself to the punishing regime devised by trainer Rob McCracken. The diet is as disciplined as the extreme physical demands and the absolute concentration on the tactical and technical details of their fight plan.
At the end of a hard day in the gym at the English Sports Institute, where McCracken also nurtures the British Olympians who landed a shoal of medals at the London Games, Froch allows himself a visit to a local Italian restaurant. This rare treat amounts to half a chicken breast (‘grilled plain, no oil’) and a small side salad (‘no lettuce, one ounce of vinegar dressing on the side just in case’), washed down with chilled water.
Not that Froch ever has difficulty scaling on or below the 12st limit. ‘Nah, I could come in on the weight in the morning and wish I could fight him tomorrow night,’ he says.
FROCH keeps himself lean and hungry as he continues to consolidate his family’s future. The Forbes Rich List estimates Froch’s net worth as between $20-30million (£12m-£18m). Whatever the exact figure, the record Wembley gate for boxing and Sky pay-TV sales will boost it by at least £5m.
He has earned every penny the hard way. This second encounter with Groves is his 12th consecutive world championship fight and he has slugged it out with the finest super-middleweights on earth, beating all but one of them. Yet it took him time to catch the public imagination and build his earnings base.
He recalls: ‘I got about 30 grand for each of my first couple of title fights. But I didn’t waste the money. I bought two small houses in a part of Nottingham which wasn’t very fashionable at the time and rented them out. They’ve paid for themselves now.’
The Froch property portfolio has grown in parallel with his rise in purse-power and he says: ‘First I had Rachael and myself to look after. Then my great lad, Rocco, came along and now we have Natalia as this lovely lo extra reminder to me to provide provi for them for the rest of their lives. I’m fighting for the future futu of the whole family and I’m not done yet. Not by a long cha chalk.’ B But money is not the only spur. Fig Fighting passion burns deep ins inside Froch, as does pride in be being a world champion. It is t those professional instincts which reinforce the most resilient chin in the prize-ring, t that granite jaw which enables him to get up from sledgehammer punches — l like the one with which Groves floored him in the first round in November — a and hit back to win.
As Froch is pushing himself in training, Anthony Joshua, Britain’s super-heavyweight Olympic champion, arrives at the sports centre to help prepar pare some of McCracken’s GB tea team for this summer’s Commonw monwealth Games in Glasgow. Joshua is excited to be on the Wembley undercard, but he jokes with Froch: ‘Not getting as much as you.’ Froch grins and says: ‘Don’t worry about the money yet, Big Josh. I wasn’t earning a lot when I became world champion. I’m getting my rewards now. Concentrate on the prize. For you that’s the world heavyweight title. Get that and everything else follows.’
BUT lose those belts and Froch, 37 on July 2, knows it would be a hard road back to the summit. That is one reason why he is pounding the tarmac with dervish zeal. The furore over his somewhat premature stoppage of Groves, when the Londoner was ahead on the scorecards going into the ninth round, has resulted in a return bout which will smash box-office records for boxing in Britain.
The controversy also drives Froch on and up the lung-bursting hills of his regular dawn runs. And no corner-cutting this time.
He says: ‘Groves tries to make fun of me keeping my charts and diaries. Well, sport is a science now, George. Before our first fight I didn’t get close to my best times. Now I’m going five or six seconds faster, partly by accelerating to the top of the steepest gradient of all, a 1 in 4. I couldn’t believe it when I broke my own records.’
Froch discovered five months ago that If you do not apply the science, the human fighting machine slows down. ‘I have to be honest with you,’ he says. ‘I did most of my running last time on the treadmill. No matter what anyone tries to tell you, it’s not the same.
‘I took Groves for granted. I was only at 80 per cent of my best. If he thinks it will be the same fight over again, he’s in for a big surprise.
‘My resting pulse rate is back down to 36 and I feel the way I’ve usually felt since I became world champion. Never mind 12 rounds, I’m your old-fashioned 15-round fighter. Not George, though. He did well for six rounds against me but then the tide turned.
‘He weakened as I got back into it. He can’t take the pressure. As I began hitting him with big shots he crumbled. Maybe it was stopped early but it was only a matter of time. He’s one of those who goes into the 10th, 11th and 12th
rounds seeing the finishing line and hoping to get through it. Not when you’re a world champion. Not me. That’s when I’m coming to get you.’
Froch admits he allowed Groves to get under his skin with his mind games, lost his temper and his focus. He has responded by employing a sports psychologist to ensure he fights with his brain not his emotions on Saturday.
SO what does Groves keep whispering in his ear? ‘He keeps telling me to try to hold it together,’ says Froch. ‘Hold it together? How many world title fights have I had? He’s had the one and even at my worst I found a way to beat him.
‘So I ’m cool now. He no longer bothers me. I’m only interested in being on top of my game and boxing a smart fight.’
Groves has come across as bright and articulate — Machiavellian even — during their grating exchanges. Froch is intelligent, too. That depth is evident when you ask if he thinks Groves is truly convinced when he says he is certain to win second time around. The Cobra hisses: ‘I like this quotation: You can’t get a fool to question his wisdom.’
Other questions were left hanging in the chill Manchester night air when referee Howard Foster abruptly interrupted their violent dialogue back in November. Froch believes he has all the answers.
I took Groves for granted last time... I was only at 80 per cent of my best