By Elliot Worsell PART I TEN YEARS on, it is clear now that it became a numbers game, the rivalry of Carl Froch and George Groves. In the first installment, there was the promise of two right hands in round one and then six months later it all ended in round eight with one right hand witnessed by 80,000 fans. Meanwhile, between those two flashpoints there was special importance placed on the number six by Groves’ coach, who believed Froch was so haunted by the events of round six in the pair’s first fight that he now couldn’t bear the thought of that number, as well as the number 31, which, to be honest, remains a mystery even to this day.
There were also other numbers of importance; increasing numbers, that is, both in terms of entourages, sponsors, and figures in various bank accounts. According to a report in the Daily Mail , the 2014 rematch between Froch and Groves was at the time declared the highest-grossing fight on British soil in history, with the largest ever purse: £10million. (Froch taking home £8m and Groves £2m.
) In addition, the newspaper’s analysis of the finances showed that the total income from the night was more than £22m, more than any other fight in Britain, while the official Wembley Stadium crowd of 77,000 – rounded up at every turn by Carl Froch – beat the previous British record of just over 70,000, set in 1933 when Jack Petersen beat Jack Doyle at White City. Gate receipts were reported as £6m, and the pay-per-view sales on Sky Spo.