Carl Froch has never held back with his views about his fellow fighters, past and present.
The former super-middleweight champion has often had beef with everyone from Anthony Joshua to Jake Paul, and has long had a back-and-forth with Joe Calzaghe about who would have won had the two ever met in the ring.
He only lost twice in the ring across a hugely successful career, once to Andre Ward, and once to Mikkel Kessler, which he later avenged. Yet neither of those men did he truly hate.
Speaking to Sporting Talk, Froch was asked who that was and spoke of the consequences of such heated emotions when they fought.
“The guy I really didn’t like, and everyone is gonna know, was George Groves in the first fight. I just couldn’t stand him. I genuinely f*****g hated him, really bad, to my soul, and that’s why I struggled so much in the first fight, the game plan went out of the window and I just tried to render him unconscious like I did in the rematch. And when you’re trying to knock someone hold out, you load up, you’re just that split second behind, you’re looking at them and you’re trying to force it. You’re not boxing, it’s the art of pugilism.”
Although Froch got the stoppage win in that fight, most fans thought it came too early. The rematch was much more conclusive as the Nottingham man laid Groves out cold in the eighth round at Wembley Stadium to end his career as world champion.