Carl Froch vs. George Groves, billed as the Battle of Britain, was a professional boxing match contested on 23 November 2013 at the Manchester Arena.

Carl Froch began 2013 by successfully defending his IBF super-middleweight title against WBA (Regular) champion Mikkel Kessler on 25 May, which was a rematch of their first fight on 24 April 2010, at the time part of the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament.

Having unified the titles and become a two-time world champion, Froch considered several options for his next fight. His preference was a third fight with Kessler, based on the resounding critical success of the second, as well as a rematch with former Super Six rival Andre Ward, who defeated Froch in the tournament final on 17 December 2011.

George Groves had won three fights in 2013, including a victory on the undercard of Froch–Kessler II. By June, he was ranked number two at super-middleweight by the WBA and was installed as the mandatory challenger by the IBF.

The rivalry between him and Froch had already begun prior to the Kessler fight, when Groves joined Kessler’s training camp as a sparring partner. This drew furious criticism from Froch a week before that fight, who branded Groves a traitor for helping out his Danish opponent and not staying loyal to his countryman. In response, Groves maintained that he had gained invaluable experience by sparring against a multiple-time world champion veteran in Kessler.

Once Groves became the mandatory contender for the IBF title, Froch began considering him as a serious opponent for later in the year. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn had mentioned a potential Froch–Groves fight as early as March, which turned into more serious discussions in July, during which time Froch declared his intention to defend his title rather than vacate it for the sake of a potentially bigger fight with Kessler or Ward.

Hearn officially announced the event on 30 August, to take place on 23 November at the Manchester Arena (then known as the Phones4u Arena). Matchroom had promoted Froch since 2011, and Groves was signed in March 2013.

Throughout the latter half of the year, Froch and Groves engaged in an intense war of words, rife with trash-talk, in a rivalry likened to that of Nigel Benn vs. Chris Eubank in the early 1990s.

On 8 November, both boxers appeared on Sky Sports’ boxing talk show Ringside. During the show, Groves insisted on referring to Froch by his second name only, while Froch refused to even look at him. Neither accepted the offer of a handshake.

In Groves’ training camp, preparations hit a major stumbling block when he and trainer Adam Booth split acrimoniously in September. Groves would reveal in December 2015 that he felt Booth had abandoned him at the most important stage of his career, before a world title fight. With ten weeks to go before the fight with Froch, Paddy Fitzpatrick was hired by Groves to replace Booth.

At the weigh-in on 22 November, which culminated in both boxers having to be pulled apart by security and personnel, Froch was highly animated during the customary staredown as he taunted an “uncharacteristically quiet” Groves.

They weighed in under the super-middleweight limit of 168 lb (76 kg): Froch at 167+3⁄4 pounds (76.1 kg) and Groves at 166+1⁄2 lb (75.5 kg).

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