Former WBA world super-middleweight world champion and now pundit, George Groves, has inadvertently drawn a comparison between Tyson Fury and Carl Froch. Rematch or retire.
Famously, Groves forced then unified IBF and WBA world super-middleweight champion Froch into a rematch following the duo’s controversial encounter in November 2013. Groves, who dropped Froch in the opening round and dominated the contest, succumbed to a controversial ninth-round stoppage, much to the fury of Groves.
Groves was so incensed that he appealed to the IBF to reinstall him as a mandatory challenger, which he did successfully.
Groves would taunt Froch into a rematch with the quote “rematch or retire” and ultimately got his rematch on May 31st 2014, in front of 80,000 at Wembley Stadium, London.
Groves believes that Tyson Fury now finds himself in a position where he has to rematch Francis Ngannou or retire following the pairings encounter in the Saudi desert, which Fury won courtesy of a narrow split decision victory.
Talk before the event surrounded a possible December 23rd date between Fury and unified heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk. However, following the fight with Fury and Ngannou, promoter Frank Warren has insisted that the December 23rd date will no longer proceed.
Groves, when speaking to Sky Sports, believes that Fury could well be forced into rematching Ngannou instead of facing Usyk in an undisputed heavyweight title encounter.
“There is not a chance the Usyk fight is happening on that date,” Groves told Sky Sports. “It is not Usyk on December 23rd. I don’t think it’s Usyk next. I think it’s either Ngannou or that’s the last of Fury. He tells everyone he is ‘The Gypsy King,’ that he is the man, no fighter can ever beat him. There is someone right now who can beat him, and it’s Usyk. A lot of people will think the same. He doesn’t need to roll the dice and get beat [by] the little gap-toothed Ukrainian guy.”
It is believed that Fury-Usyk is a two-fight agreement between both parties; each man holds an immediate rematch clause in their favour should they lose their title. Meanwhile, Ngannou did not have such a clause in his agreement with Fury, despite Fury having a rematch clause in his favour if the unthinkable did happen, which it nearly did.
Groves added that because of how poor Fury looked against Ngannou, the former WBA super-middleweight champion can realistically see Fury walk away from the sport, not fight Usyk and retire.
“He’d rather just sail off into the sunset,” Groves said. “He is an interesting character and there are lots of avenues he can explore after boxing. Doors that might be shut on him or not the same if he loses to Usyk. I think he is going to either rectify the last fight against Ngannou, which he will get paid a lot of money for and a lot of people would be interested in. He will train better and show up and perform. Or he might retire.”
