By Elliot Worsell
BEFORE
Chapter I
A waiting room in all but name, what the room waits for on fight night is context. That and a boxer.
It is the boxer, in fact, who will provide the room with both its context and its story. It is they, the boxer, who will in time recall this place, this changing room, as either the scene of triumph or, conversely, tragedy. As in a waiting room, its context will soon be delivered by the very thing for which the boxer waits: their result. Either itโs the all-clear and therefore, when leaving the room, the air outside will have never smelled better, or it is something far worse. Something terminal. Something that will ensure the details of this room remain a blur and the time spent inside it will be difficult to remember no matter how hard they try.
At 8.20 pm, nobody knows whether to expect triumph or tragedy, least of all George Groves, the boxer. Entering the room with all the calm and certainty of a conqueror, the first person he meets is Howard Foster, a referee who means one thing to Groves now but will come to mean something else to him later. Indeed, not unlike the room itself, Foster, dressed for the occasion, is for now a face and voice without context. He merely represents authority; a man whose words must be obeyed.
โDonโt hit him while heโs down,โ Foster says, โgo to the furthest neutral corner and stay there. If you come out of that corner, Iโll stop the count, okay? When youโre in close, watch your head. No holding. When I say break, you break. Again, if youโre holding and I tell you to stop, thatโs when you stop holding. You can work inside or you can step back; whatever you want to do. No hitting the back of the head, keep your punches up, have a good fight, and good luck.โ
After that, Foster shakes the boxerโs hand and heads for the door. His exit, however, is waylaid by Paddy Fitzpatrick, Grovesโ trainer, who lurks nearby. โI know yer in a hurry, so Iโll keep it brief,โ the Irishman says. โI jusโ want to remind you oโ somethinโ Froch actually said…โ
โLook โโ interrupts Foster, eyes rolling, exasperated.
โNo, please, listen to me. If he does get caught accidentally, he said he will deliberately foul back.โ
โIโve spoken to Carl just as Iโve spoken to George. No fouls. A nice, clean fight, thatโs all I want.โ
โI understand. And the other thing is, please let dem work inside, jusโ as you said.โ
โAbsolutely,โ says Foster, offering his hand to Fitzpatrick before escaping.
With authority removed from the room, the boxer and trainer now begin to rearrange it, doing so with all the paranoia of a panopticon prisoner. They start by pushing chairs and a sofa towards the wall, creating a greater floor space on which to nervously pace, as well as re-apply to the same wall a picture of Groves knocking out Noรฉ Gonzรกlez Alcoba. (That had been hung up earlier in order for Groves to see it upon entering the changing room, yet had during the course of the afternoon fallen down.)
โWhen do you want to bandage?โ Fitzpatrick asks.
โAbout an hour before,โ Groves says, โso that weโre finished by nine-thirty.โ
โOkay, so weโll start at, say, ten past nine.โ
The Board inspector, the one remaining authority figure in the room, then makes his presence known. โRight,โ he says, โyou want to do it at ten past nine. Thatโs fine. So if I get here for five past nine…โ
โNo,โ says Fitzpatrick, โyou can get โere for ten past nine.โ
โWell, five minutes wonโt make much difference.โ
โIโm jusโ sayinโ, weโve already made it clear dat we want dis place empty for as long as possible. We donโt want people cominโ in anโ out. So if you come in witโ de guy at ten past nine itโs only one entrance rather than two. If you can let someone from de Froch camp know dat the time is ten past nine weโll send someone over from our camp to watch dem do der thing.โ
โNo problem whatsoever,โ says the inspector.
โGreat. Thank you. Weโll let you back in at ten past nine.โ
Groves, listening but trying not to care, moves towards a long table and begins to unload a sports bag. Soon finding their way out of it and onto the table is a large, round clock, something the boxer brings with him to every fight, an espresso shot covered by a tin foil lid, as well as his laptop and a Beats by Dre red and black speaker. โI had my playlist all set up on my iPod, then had a malfunction and now the thing wonโt work,โ he laments, revealing the frozen screen. โIโm hoping I might be able to get my laptop plugged into the speaker and get it going using Bluetooth.โ
It is, like the fallen picture, an unwelcome glitch in Grovesโ matrix; or, for those with a predilection for such things, an ominous sign. However, Groves, although often prone to superstition, is tonight also fully prepared for some problem-solving, so therefore sees no issue with it beginning now. To this end he feeds his pre-prepared playlist through the tinny speakers of his laptop, giving life to โElectric Feelโ by MGMT, the sound of which acts as the cue for him to finally relax, settle. Sitting down now, with his coat draped over the back of a chair positioned next to him, he elects to continue wearing his cap and scarf until the room warms up. He then starts to lose himself in the mundane but oddly therapeutic process of ripping bits of tape with his teeth and hanging them, equal distance apart, from the edge of a nearby table.
โI want Froch tโknow dat de second he thinks about punchinโ, either with his jab or somethinโ bigger, heโs goinโ to walk into somethinโ cominโ back de other way,โ says Fitzpatrick, perched on the same table from which these strips of tape currently hang. โWhen you see his arm twitch anโ heโs revvinโ up dat jab, you get der first; you anticipate it. In time, dat jab oโ his dat he loves so much will become weaker anโ weaker anโ it will be thrown to stop you cominโ forward rather than witโ the intent to do damage.โ
Groves nods his head, no longer to the music but to the voice of the trainer in the brown pork pie hat.
โI want him to be fearful of you in de first round,โ Fitzpatrick continues. โWhen he starts flickinโ it out anโ not thinking โbout his own attack, datโs when you place de right hand, jusโ to make โim aware of it. Then, when he starts to get desperate, heโll make a lunge anโ cross his feet. His punches will start cominโ from de gunslinger position. Theyโll be tโrown out oโ desperation. Datโs when you find somethinโ heavier. Stay composed, stick witโ de belief dat yer de more refined anโ technical fighter, anโ youโll spot de opening quickly.โ
Convinced his man is listening, Fitzpatrick flashes a smile, climbs down from the table, and begins to sing along to โHospital Bedsโ by Cold War Kids. Meanwhile, Barry OโConnell, Grovesโ strength and conditioning coach, senses a lull and instinctively slips into the mode of host, offering tea to all in the vicinity. โSure, why not?โ says Fitzpatrick, somewhat amused by the question. โWhy would we change a thing? Letโs keep it de same as it is in de gym. All we need now is an orange anโ almond cake anโ weโre rockinโ.โ
In waiting for his tea, mind you, the coach starts to become restless. There is only so much winking, grinning and wisecracking one man can do, it appears. He asks Groves, at 8.48 pm, โIs it all right if I walk out der anโ see what it feels like?โ
โYeah, of course,โ says Groves, perhaps eager for silence. โDo what youโve got to do. If I need you, Iโll call you.โ
Chapter II
TEN weeks ago, George Groves made the trip to Manchester by train on a Tuesday morning to announce a fight, knowing only the opponent and the date. He did not at that point know the identity of the trainer with whom he would work for this fight, nor the gym in which he would for ten weeks prepare for it. Instead, on the train with him that day and in lieu of a coach was his best friend, Luke Ramos, in addition to a million questions in his head that only he could both ask and answer. It was not the job of his friend, for example, to press him on these matters. His role was in fact quite the opposite: complete and utter distraction. He achieved this by extolling the virtues of pop star Rita Ora, a fellow west London native, and then wisely waited until Groves disappeared into the trainโs toilet to divulge his true concerns. โThere are other trainers in London, but none of them will know him the way Adam does,โ he said, alluding to Grovesโ recent split from Adam Booth. โHe wonโt just be able to suddenly click like that.โ
By now the issue was plainly weighing as heavily on Lukeโs mind as he presumed it was on his friendโs. And yet still he managed to smile again the second Groves exited the toilet and required not an interrogation but a friend and a distraction and some advice. Dressed in a dark blue suit and white shirt, Groves, when reemerging, could be seen holding two ties: one red, the other black. He lifted both and his eyes said pick one.
โI donโt know,โ said Ramos, caught off-guard, suffocated by the responsibility. โBoth look fine to me.โ
To help, Groves next placed each of the ties against his shirt, alternating them to deliver the required visual. Still no definitive answer arrived, however. โI need you to pick,โ he said. โWhich one looks better?โ
Drowning now, Ramos stuttered and scratched his head before saying, โBlack looks good.โ
โYou sure?โ
โYeah. Iโd go black.โ
The boxer, unconvinced, took one last look at the two ties and settled on black. He returned the defeated red tie to its bag. โAll these decisions Iโve got to make on my own now,โ said Groves, sitting back down. โWasnโt like this before.โ
โWhat have you got up your sleeve for the press conference, George?โ
โF**k all. I havenโt even thought about it much.โ
His friend nodded. It wasnโt the answer he had wanted.
โTo be honest, this whole thing with Adam has put me in a horrible position today. Iโve never felt this worried or nervous before a press conference and itโs all because of what has gone on.
โIโve got no idea which f**kers will know what has happened and which f**kers wonโt. Adam could have told them all for all I know. And you know what people in boxing are like. As soon as one hears a bit of gossip, they all f**king know.
โSo now Iโve got to go there, put on a brave face, and sit in front of all these journalists, who may or may not know whatโs going on between me and Adam. Then youโve got Froch. Heโll definitely know. Eddie Hearn [Frochโs promoter] will have told him straight away.โ
The tie was fixed and Groves left it alone.
โLooks good,โ said Ramos. โSharp.โ
โThanks.โ
The press conference was held at the Radisson Hotel and featured little in the way of the trash-talking many had come to expect from two boxers prepared to use animosity as both selling tool and motivation. Low-key, it was instead more of an exercise for promoter Eddie Hearn to express his joy at selling all 20,000 tickets for the event within just eleven minutes of them going on sale. That supercilious Hearn smile, still a prototype back then, was matched only by that of Carl Froch, a champion clearly in possession of knowledge he would be able to use to hurt his challenger, if he so wished. Beside him, too, and to make matters worse, was his trainer, Rob McCracken, who, unlike Adam Booth, had made the trip to Manchester to support his fighter.
Groves, meanwhile, gave nothing away, and yet still the impact of recent dramas was evident. At times, for instance, the focus in his eyes would drift, his mind restless, elsewhere. He also frequently swallowed hard as if to compose himself and rid the inevitable lump in his throat and shakiness in his voice; another thing he now couldnโt trust. (In even just getting himself there and holding it together, he had shown, at the age of just twenty-five, more courage than most boxers show in the ring, I thought.)
Relieved when it was all over, Groves, on the train home, started to loosen up somewhat. Reaching deep inside his rucksack, he removed a plastic container of fruit, predominantly mango and melon, and began to judiciously devour the pieces in his hand, refusing to be seduced by the smell of crisps and cakes whenever train staff wheeled a food trolley back and forth. A stone above super-middleweight, his fighting weight, Groves, with ten weeks to go and no trainer, was starting to reassess the value of time.
โWhat did Froch say to you up there?โ Ramos, again sitting opposite him, asked.
Groves then frowned, as if to try to remember, before saying, โStraight away he said, โYouโre out of your depth,โ and I thought, Fair enough. Then he pulled a face and said my breath smelled.โ Ramos, hearing this, shook his head in the manner of a disappointed parent. โI felt like saying, โWell, you can clearly smell better than the rest of us, Carl,โ but was a shade too slow. Then I thought, Letโs leave the nose humour alone for today. I can beat him without it.โ
โThatโs poor from him, though. Thatโs some [James] DeGale-type shit.โ
โI know,โ said Groves. โThatโs what I said to him. Really? You say something that doesnโt work, so you go straight to getting personal. I could tell he was nervous and that heโd planned on saying all this stuff because he said it before weโd even made eye contact. It was like a nervous reaction.โ
โDid he say to you, โWhereโs your trainer?โ Iโm pretty sure I heard that.โ
โYeah, because he knows I ainโt got Adam.โ
โHe would have really enjoyed punching you.โ
โIโve never seen someone so angry in my life. He desperately wanted to punch my face in. His eyes glazed over and he started welling up, taking deep breaths, biting his lip. It looked like steam was about to explode out of his ears.
โAlso, before we did the face-to-face, I was kind of leaning on him. Then, after we did the face-to-face, he tried elbowing me out the way because I wouldnโt stop leaning on him. Some people are okay with confrontation so long as they have space and theyโre not being touched. For others, it f**ks them up. They think, Why is he on me? Why is he touching me? That will especially get to him if he thinks heโs better than me. Heโll think Iโm taking liberties with the great Carl Froch.โ
A phone then vibrated on the table. It would do so sporadically for the next ten minutes and, without looking, Groves knew the reason why.
โApparently Froch said something on talkSPORT about Adam,โ he explained. โIโm getting loads of texts from people asking if itโs true.โ
The phone was now picked up, just to make sure.
โWhat are you saying to them?โ said Ramos.
โNothing. Iโm texting my mum.โ
Phew, Ramos thought, reaching for more fruit.
โHe would have got so much relief from seeing me without a trainer today,โ said Groves. โHeโs frightened of Adam. He thinks Adam and David [Haye] know him inside out, which they do. But so do I.โ
The phone went back on the table, where at last it stopped moving.
โAnd what was Eddie Hearn trying to say to you?โ
A roll of the eyes preceded Groves saying, โAt one point he asked me if I was going away for training or staying at home. I said I was going away but was waiting to finalise the details. I wanted it to sound like I had a plan.โ He laughed because there was still time to laugh; that is, there were ten weeks to go; plans could still be made; trainers could still be found. But the sound of laughter wasnโt nearly enough to mollify his friend. โSeriously, though,โ said Ramos, โwhat are you going to do about the trainer situation?โ
โIโve got no plans,โ Groves said, biting into another piece of fruit. โI thought Adam was calling my bluff to begin with, so I wasnโt going to make any arrangements for, like, a week or ten days. But seeing as Iโve gone all the way up there on my own, itโs clear whatโs going on. So Iโll make arrangements now.โ
โYou know who I miss?โ Ramos would later say. โErnie.โ
โDaleโs Ernie?โ said Groves, referring to Dale Youth matchmaker Ernie Harris, who sadly passed away in 2012 at the age of seventy-four.
โYeah. I remember when Ernie died, I went on Twitter and one lad at the gym said the last thing Ernie ever said to him was: โYouโre going to be a great champion one day, son,โ blah, blah, blah. Well, I wrote: โThe last thing Ernie ever said to me was, Luke… youโre a c**t.โโ
Groves laughed, again thankful that his friend understood the importance of levity.
โI was only joking,โ continued Luke, โbut he did say that a lot to me over the years.โ
โIf you knew Ernie, youโd laugh at that and think itโs true,โ said Groves. โErnie would laugh at that.โ
In 2008, Ernie Harris, as well as Mick Delaney and Peter Carson, fellow Dale Youth stalwarts, guided a twenty-year-old amateur boxer towards the open arms of Adam Booth, a professional trainer, manager and promoter, and at the time the boyโs number one admirer. However, just five years and nineteen professional bouts later, the same boxer arrived at London Euston station, ten weeks from his first world title shot, without a trainer, manager, or promoter. In other words, alone.
Beneath the departures board that day, Groves, perhaps never more alone, slung his bag over his shoulder and said, by way of last words, โIโve sent a text to Paddy.โ He then waved goodbye.