• Carl Froch v George Groves

Froch not thinking about retirement

ESPN staff
November 11, 2013
Carl Froch will clash with George Groves in Manchester on November 23 © Getty Images
Enlarge

Carl Froch has no plans to retire any time soon as he gets set for a world title clash with George Groves on November 23.

Froch, 36, puts his WBA and IBF super-middleweight titles up for grabs against Groves in Manchester. He admits he would have hung up his gloves had he lost to Lucian Bute last year, but there was no need after he sealed a fifth-round stoppage win. He followed that up with a points victory over Mikkel Kessler in their rematch in May.

Asked how long he will continue, Froch told Sky Sports News: "As long as I can, there's no time frame on it.

"I'm not going to say to you I'm going to hold onto it for this amount of months or this amount of years or this amount of fights.

"As long as I can still do the work and still put myself through the mill in terms of training and all the physical preparation you need to do, and physical attributes you need to have.

"If they are maintained, the older I get, and I can still do what I need to do to defend my titles, I will still keep doing it."

Though Groves remains unbeaten, Froch is still the favourite for their clash. Groves is stepping up to world title level for the first time - but Froch is wary of his opponent's punch power.

"This is my 14th world title fight. That level of motivation comes naturally and there is an amount of pressure whether you are challenger or champion," he said.

"There are great expectations on my shoulders to defend against this guy that not everybody, but a few people say he's not good enough, he shouldn't be in the ring with me. Possibly down to his ranking.

"George Groves is unbeaten in 19 fights, he's got 15 knockouts, so he's shown signs of being quite a big puncher and he's very confident.

"That in itself has got it's dangers and it's threats so I've got to take him very, very seriously, which I have done and do the business on the 23rd of November."

Download ESPN's new UK sport app, a fresh and powerful new way to follow your favourite UK sports news, scores and video.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
ESPN staff Close