It has seemed almost an eternity since a world title bout was made between two domestic fighters who were deemed to be in the elite of their weight division.

David Haye defended his heavyweight belt against Audley Harrison almost three years ago, but that turned out to be more of a freak show rather than an eagerly anticipated dust-up that will live up to the hype.

But after it was announced on Tuesday that Carl Froch would defend his WBA and IBF super-middleweight titles against unbeaten Brit George Groves later this year, the anticipation soon began to build for what should be a memorable encounter.

Below, Sports Mole assesses the strengths and weaknesses of both fighters, and predicts who will emerge with their pride and reputation intact.

Carl Froch

The 36-year-old from Nottingham has established himself as one of the world's best pound-for-pound fighters.

He may be a class behind the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Gennady Golovkin, but Froch is rightly regarded as one of the best of his era in England and on the current super-middleweight scene.

Froch has been involved in regular top-level battles with some of the best names in the world, including Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler, and he will not fear stepping into the ring with an up-and-coming combatant like Groves.

But one thing that could possibly cost Froch is if he underestimates Groves. He has already insisted that he won't, but he has previously stated that he didn't feel that the Londoner deserved to face him for a world title.

Any unbeaten fighter who is given a world title opportunity has to be considered as dangerous. Groves has only been taken the distance on four occasions and he has also got back off the canvas to win, which is something that he may have to do against Froch.

Froch will look to come forward and exchange punches with Groves, which can work in two ways. He is going to batter Groves into his shell, or he is going to be met by a heavy-handed reply from the 25-year-old.

George Groves

Groves will go into the biggest fight of his career with a huge amount of confidence after his rise up the super-middleweight rankings.

Ever since his marginal victory over James DeGale in 2011, the 25-year-old has been on what has seemed an inevitable route to a shot at a world title.

His competition in the opposite corner has not been in the same class as DeGale, but what it has done is help Groves develop his skills inside the ring and make himself a credible threat to Froch.

He proved in his last encounter - a fifth-round stoppage of Noe Gonzalez Alcoba - that he deserves to be talked about as an elite super-middleweight fighter, but with three world title possibilities in front of him, has he made a mistake in opting for Froch?

Groves could have stepped into the ring with either Sakio Bika or Robert Stieglitz, which represented an easier chance to become a world champion and would have improved his experience on the big stage.

The Froch fight would have still been available to him sometime in 2014, and rather than going into the unknown, he would have known what to expect.

A four-month build-up is going to seem so much longer to Groves than it will to Froch, and you have to wonder whether that will hinder the Londoner on the night.

Prediction

Froch has already predicted that Groves will look to hit and move during the opening half of their encounter, and he could very well be correct.

However, that tactic might only work to some extent against Froch, who will chase Groves down, and if Groves ends up having to make rounds up in the latter stages, he could find himself being stopped minutes before the final bell.