Carl Froch said he’d “gone back to the old school” in a bid to put the result beyond doubt when he faces George Groves in their all-British world title re-match at the end of this month.
Froch retained his International Boxing Federation ad regular World Boxing Association super-middleweight belts in highly controversial fashion when referee Howard Foster halted his first fight against Groves with a ninth-round stoppage in Manchester in November.
Many experienced ringside observers felt Groves should have been allowed to continue as the Londoner had in fact knocked Froch down in the first round and enjoyed the better of the majority of the fight against the champion, from Nottingham in central England, up until Foster’s intervention.
The way in which the contest ended had Groves demanding a re-match and, while Froch seemed initially reluctant, the two boxers have since agreed to meet again at Wembley in north London on May 31.
And Froch said different preparation would put the outcome beyond doubt on this occasion.
“I’ve gone back to the old school a little bit and got the blood, sweat and smell back in the air,” he said on Sky Sports 1’s Ringside: Froch/Groves Special on Thursday.
“After I lost to Mikkel Kessler the first time in Herning in 2010, I started training in Sheffield full-time, I was on the case day and night, and that’s what I do when I’m in Sheffield.
“So I’m mimicking what I did back then. I feel as good as I could possibly feel at this stage of my career and I’m not going to talk about targets and goals or mentally where I am, but I am in a fantastic place right now.
“I’m looking forward to getting this fight done and dusted because I’m excited about showcasing my skills and my talents on this massive platform.”
During one photo call to promote the re-match, Froch shoved Groves off the turf at Wembley football stadium, having been irked by the challenger’s taunts in the build-up to the first fight.
But on Thursday the champion did his best to remain calm, saying: “It was all very intense and heated the first time, a bit unnecessarily so. I’m cool this time, relaxed and looking forward to it.
“This time it’s all about Carl Froch, nothing else. I spent too much time focusing energy on George Groves and thinking about what he was saying and getting emotionally involved with it.
“That’s not happening now, it’s all about me and what I’m doing right, I’m focusing on me. It’s working well for me.”
Meanwhile Groves maintained Froch has been forced to take on a fight he’d rather avoid.
“The fight is essentially unfinished, the referee stopped it when it shouldn’t have been stopped,” Groves said.
“Carl has to take a fight he doesn’t want to take, he has to come to my back garden, so whether things have changed for him or not it probably won’t make a difference on fight night.”
At the time of the stoppage back in November, Groves was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards.