Carl Froch and George Groves first fought on 23 November 2013 at the
Manchester Arena (then known as the Phones4u Arena). In that fight, Froch's two world titles were also at stake. Groves scored a surprise
knockdown in the opening round and went on to build up a lead on all three judges' scorecards. In round nine, the fight ended in highly controversial circumstances when Froch managed land a series of punches to hurt Groves, which prompted referee Howard Foster to stop the fight on a
technical knockout. The result was heavily protested by Groves and his team, as well as by fans and the media, creating immediate demand for a rematch.
Build-up The rematch was officially announced on 4 March 2014 by
Matchroom Boxing promoter
Eddie Hearn, for whom Froch had fought since 2011 and Groves since 2013. It was the first boxing event to be held at the new
Wembley Stadium since it opened in 2007; the last to be held at the
old Wembley Stadium was
Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno on 2 September 1995. A new attendance record for a British boxing event was also anticipated, which would break the previous record of 57,000 at the
City of Manchester Stadium, during
Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano on 24 May 2008. Froch's
WBA (Regular) and
IBF super-middleweight titles would again be on the line. As with their first fight, Froch and Groves appeared on
Sky Sports' boxing magazine show
Ringside. In their first meeting on the show, on 8 November 2013, Groves insisted on referring to Froch by his second name only, while Froch refused to even look at him. Their second meeting, on 2 May 2014, was slightly more cordial and ended with a handshake. However, when they shook hands again on Sky's
round table sit-down show,
The Gloves Are Off, Groves attempted to pull Froch over the table but was himself pulled over instead. Both fights were likened to the
rivalry between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank in the early 1990s. In the build-up to the rematch there was much animosity between both boxers, with copious amounts of
trash-talk and each vowing to score a
knockout. The weigh-in took place on 30 May at the nearby
Wembley Arena, in front of 4,000 raucous fans who were predominantly in support of native Londoner Groves. Froch came in at , a shade under the super-middleweight limit of . Groves came in at , considerably under the limit. Froch taunted Groves during the staredown, to which Groves said afterwards: "Carl was talking and talking, [he] said I looked dry, I looked tight at the weight. He is grasping for something, he needs reassurance. I said this six months ago. He can't find it and for that reason he is going to struggle. He is gone." ==Fight details==