• Carl Froch v George Groves II

Froch's City Ground claim revealed to be a joke

Carl Froch had stated on Twitter that the City Ground was the 'front runner' to host his rematch with George Groves © PA Photos

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Carl Froch and George Groves will not be fighting at the City Ground - or Stamford Bridge for that matter - after it emerged the Cobra's claims of hosting the fight in Nottingham turned out to be a joke.

Froch quipped the home of his beloved Nottingham Forest was 'front runner' to host his showpiece rematch with Groves and was ahead of Wembley Stadium in the running.

However, the Sun reports that the contract between the pair stipulates the fight cannot be held at either the City Ground or the home of Chelsea; the team which Groves supports.

The City Ground can hold of just over 30,000 fans but larger stadiums such as the Emirates or Wembley are more appealing to promoter Eddie Hearn due to their significantly higher capacity. The Emirates is double the size of the City Ground, while Wembley has a maximum capacity of around 90,000.

Hearn has long touted this rematch as a possible candidate for the biggest fight in British boxing history - something which Groves stated, if true, deserves to be hosted on a larger scale.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Groves indicated that Nottingham "just isn't big enough" to host a fight of this magnitude and hinted the possibility of staging it at Twickenham.

"The Sheriff of Nottingham, Carl Froch, has tweeted that we've all got to go to Nottingham. I don't believe it," Groves said. "Eddie Hearn says this fight is the biggest fight in British boxing history - if that's the case then I'm afraid Nottingham just isn't big enough. It needs to be somewhere bigger.

"Twickenham is down the road from me, that holds 80,000-odd. Now I'm not pushing too hard for Twickenham but if there's a place where people would rather go to, they'd rather go there than Nottingham. It doesn't matter though - I'll beat him in his back yard if needs be."

Groves also branded Froch's idea a "hoax" on his Twitter account and stated that "Forest is an old fashioned ground - this is a modern-day fight."

Before you all book your trains to Nottingham because the Sheriff has tweeted.. I very much doubt King John would send us all there! #Hoax

— George Groves (@StGeorgeGroves) February 24, 2014

In January, the IBF ruled that referee Howard Foster had acted inappropriately in the first bout - which resulted in a highly controversial ninth-round stoppage victory for Froch - and ordered the 36-year-old to fight Groves again within 90 days or risk giving up his IBF super-middleweight title.

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