• Carl Froch v George Groves II

Froch camp object to referee for Groves rematch

The IBF will look for a new referee for Carl Froch's rematch with George Groves after the Cobra's promoter Eddie Hearn objected to the appointment of American Jack Reiss.

Groves insisted a foreign referee was chosen for the Wembley bout after Englishman Howard Foster controversially stopped their first fight in the ninth round last November.

Reiss was originally scheduled to referee the May 31 rematch, but Hearn was left concerned after the Californian took charge in Bermane Stiverne's recent WBC heavyweight title win against Chris Arreola.

"The officials have yet to be finalised," Hearn said. "The initial list was sent out but was objected by both parties; one on the referee and the other on one of the judges. We now have to wait to see who the IBF bring forward."

The IBF must now produce a list of alternative officials for the British Board of Boxing Control to consider. Once their approval is given, a new referee can be appointed but IBF Championships chairman Lindsey Tucker said it was a less than ideal situation.

"We initially wanted Jack Reiss, but we've got an objection, so we've had to change," Tucker told Sky Sports.

"We naturally feel that Reiss is qualified to do the fight, but a big fight like this, if somebody objects we kind of take it seriously, even though we don't agree with this, we kind of take it seriously.

"We don't want anybody to come back later and say well if you had changed ... so we're thinking about switching.

"The next step now is to send a couple of names to the British Board to see if they will agree with any of them and then we'll go from there. I would think we'll probably know by Friday."

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