George Groves says there is no chance Carl Froch finished his career at Wembley on Saturday night. He pledged to return "bigger, better and stronger".
Speaking the morning after a right hook ended Groves' world title challenge in the eighth round of their rematch, Froch suggested his beaten rival might struggle to recover from such a brutal ending.
But Groves claims he has emerged from the pair's second fight in better shape than he did from the first, when a controversial stoppage gave Froch a contest he was losing on points.
He told Sky Sports News he is ready to "get stuck back in at the highest level" after a "split-second mistake" left him devastated in defeat.
"I've still got a long, successful career in front of me," said the 26-year-old, who secured the rematch after petitioning the IBF about the outcome of the first fight.
"With my career I do a lot - not so much on my own - but against the greater authorities. We're a bit of a maverick team and we enjoy that. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. We'll figure it out.
"It's strange - I felt more beaten up after the first fight. There's no concussion, no aches or pains and my face isn't as bad as last time considering I got dropped heavily.
"If the referee had let me get up there's no way I wouldn't have carried on, although he was 100% right - I was out for about three seconds.
"Full credit to my conditioning coach Barry - I feel pretty good today.
"We'll have to see what's next. I've signed with Sauerland promotions, and I'll have a meeting with (trainer) Paddy Fitzpatrick this week just to talk. I certainly feel like I'm in a good place."
Groves again gave credit to Froch for the finish but argued he was in control of a close contest and executing his gameplan to the letter when the end came.
He said: "Carl should be gracious with his win. He certainly doesn't need to beat up on me some more.
"I totally dominated the first fight and I felt like I was in control of the second fight. That's down to people's opinions and interpretations, but no one thought I was on the verge of getting stopped.
"It's just one of those punches. It's a shame it happened now - I've spent my whole career where this could've happened and hasn't, and it's happened to me at the worst possible time.
"It certainly won't be the end of my career. I'm 26 years old, coming off the back of now two losses, but we'll go back to the drawing board and plough on.
"There's certainly a value still with me, and there's a lot more potential. We're improving fight on fight. I got careless for a second and I paid the price - it's a brutal price you pay in boxing, but there are a lot of positives."
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