Carl Froch has described rival George Groves as "paranoid" after the latter demanded neutral officials to oversee the duo's highly anticipated rematch at Wembley.
The original bout between the two super-middleweights ended in controversial fashion when referee Howard Foster stopped the fight in the ninth round to hand Froch the victory.
Groves, who complained of bias to the British Board of Boxing Control after that result, has now threatened to pull out of the rematch unless his demands to have non-British officials are met.
"I personally can't believe it, and I'm not happy about it. We're all in this sport together, and the British Boxing Board of Control do a fantastic job. To say that we don't want them officiating potentially the biggest fight in British boxing history, it almost makes a mockery of the British Boxing Board of Control," Froch is quoted as saying by PA.
"It's a real shame, we've got two British fighters, we're going to leave it all in the ring, you've got to give George Groves a lot of credit for how he performed in his first fight, he did a good job. We would like to think that our referees, our officials, our judges could play a part in the whole event. To say that they're not invited to the party, when it's happening on our soil, I'm sure that they could turn around and refuse to sanction the fight.
"If that happens it wouldn't be able to be held on British soil. This will unfold, but it's George again playing clever clogs. Possibly he's paranoid about upsetting a lot of officials, from the last one, and he might feel it's going to have some backlash. I don't think something like that would mean that this fight doesn't happen, I really don't think that. But it's something that's going to need discussing and ironing out."
The pair will square up in their rematch for the super-middleweight world title on May 31.
Barney Corkhill
