Boxing Betting / Ralph Ellis / 17 May 2011 /

James DeGale is favourite to win Saturday's all-British bout but, as Ralph Ellis points out, the fight could be closer than the market suggests.

If there's anybody who knows about scrapping to the top the hard way, then it's Carl Froch. At the age of 33 he's finally made it to the big time - but only just in time.

He is flying out to America today to get ready for his World Super Six semi-final with Glen Johnson in Atlantic City on June 4. It brings a decent pay day - and even more riches if he can beat the 42-year-old Jamaican who wasn't even among the original half dozen fighters involved when the round robin event was conceived.

Things are looking good. Froch's [1.27] to win this fight and will then face Andre Ward, who beat Arthur Abraham in the other semi on Saturday night, with the chance of unifying the super middleweight titles in a contest that will tick all the American pay-per-view money spinning boxes.

But it hasn't always been that way. Froch has spent years earning money as a 'property developer', which makes you think of urbane city men in suits, but in his case is a euphemism for buying rundown old flats around his Nottingham home and doing them up with his own sweat and hard labour. I suppose the only good thing is that the more famous his fighting career became, the more reluctant his tenants would be to fall behind on the rent!

Anyway that background entitles Froch to know a thing or two about other unfashionable fighters. He's been on the wrong end of boxing politics himself often enough to understand that how well you move in the ring helps, but ultimately careers tend to be built on the nifty footwork of your management team.

So before he left these shores it was interesting to hear his take on this Saturday night's British dust-up between James DeGale and George Groves. He's talked to today's papers about the prospect of eventually fighting the winner, and most of the boxing writers have been sufficiently excited by the prospect to focus on that.

But he also chatted to a boxing website called boxingscene.com, and this is what he said: "The smart money is on DeGale to win on points, but Groves can punch and he can box. He beat Kenny Anderson who was very underrated at the time, and Groves has proven more. It's a 50-50 fight - I can't pick a winner."

Now I don't know about you, but I reckon the idea that you can get [4.0] to back Groves when it's a 50-50 fight is pretty appealing. It's not hard to understand why DeGale is such a heavy favourite, but for all that he's improved in the last year or so you still have to wonder how much of that comes from a reputation built on an Olympic gold medal.

Groves is still bitter that despite beating his boyhood rival in the build up to Beijing he was left out of the elite squad because he "lacked experience". As he said at the time, if he didn't get picked how could he ever get the experience? It's a complaint Froch would easily understand.

Five things you might not know about George Groves

1. Born in London in March 1988, he started boxing at the Dale youth club where he was coached by Mickey Delaney and Peter Carson
2. As a boy he got into kickboxing, and won four world titles as a 13-year-old as well as appearing on Eurosport broadcasts
3. He beat James DeGale among his 66 wins in 76 amateur fights - but decided to turn pro when despite that DeGale was picked for the Olympic team ahead of him.
4. He has a tattoo on his midrift of Mars the Roman god of war
5. His original deal with Hayemaker promotions hit trouble when Setanta went bust, but despite signing for Frank Maloney he still works with David Haye's trainer Adam Booth.

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