Groves: I’ll make Froch ‘spit out his dummy’ before rematch

The 25-year-old was withdrawn from his first challenge for Froch’s WBA and IBF super-middleweight championships by referee Howard Foster in the ninth round.

However, Groves and many fans felt the stoppage at Manchester Arena in November was premature and lacked consistency after the Londoner had the champ in trouble several times in a fight he led on the judges’ scorecards.

The two were at each other’s throats both before their first bout and during lengthy negotiations to agree to a rematch – and Groves claimed to Sky Sport’s Ringside podcast that he will cause Froch to get flustered and start contradicting himself in interviews ahead of their stadium showdown.

"I love having a little verbal spat with Carl because when he is threatened he spits out his dummy," he said.

"He stops making sense, he starts contradicting himself and he starts relying on clichés and pre-rehearsed scripts.

"He's not proactive, he's not even reactive. He's just set in his ways and for him a verbal battle must be soul-destroying.

"If I was Carl I wouldn't be looking forward to any confrontation with me - especially the ones that don't have gloves."