Duan and I had scored the fight clearly for George Groves until the 9th before the referee stopped it. It was really the first time Groves had been in trouble all night and while Froch was picking up steam, Groves deserved much better.
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I do think it was way early, but I sort of empathize with the ref here. I think what he was trying to do was protect a young fighter from taking a shot that would have impacted the rest of his career. Groves had been on shaky legs for a while. The ref had a side/back view when Froch landed the big shots and George turned away defenselessly and looked like he was about to go down on his face. Froch was following behind him winging shots.
At that point, the ref has 2 choices 1) let him land or 2) stop the fight. I think he panicked in a pressure situation and jumped in with the fighters health in mind. Groves probably didn’t get so much the benefit of the doubt because he’s perceived as being a guy who doesn’t take a shot well.
Now, I fully believe the way he had fought up to that point he did deserved that chance to see if he could survive it and see out the decision – especially considering he hadn’t taken a count yet and we know that it is possible to knock him down. He’s not one of these guys who can just eat shots and stay upright. There was still time left in the round though and he was really struggling. My feeling is that he was going to be finished either in that session or shortly there after.
Just to say, I’m certain that fight wouldn’t have been stopped in America or even Ireland at that point. UK refs tend to go on the side of caution. There are reasons for that and I don’t fault them at all for it. I think in this instance the official made the wrong call in the heat of the moment, but his job is to protect the fighter and that’s what he was trying to do.