DeGale vs. Groves this Saturday: James has the edge in power, speed and boxing ability

By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten British super middleweight champion James DeGale (10-0, 8 KO’s) and challenger George Groves (12-0, 10 KO’s) will meet in London next Saturday night in a grudge match at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), Greenwich, London, England.

This is a bout that is for sure going to have fireworks. Groves, 23, beat DeGale while they were bout amateurs. Groves hasn’t improved much if at all since then, while DeGale is clearly crown into an excellent fighter and captured the Gold Medal in the 2008 Olympics. Groves still talks as if he’s on the same level as DeGale, but sadly Groves’s performances don’t seem to indicate that. DeGale has a big advantage in this match-up in the speed, power and boxing ability.

Groves’ only edge may be his perseverance. He really wants this fight and seems to be willing to do whatever he can to get the win. Unfortunately, Groves’ chin may betray him long before he can wear DeGale down with his pressure. That’s the bad part about it. If Groves had a better chin, he might be able to stick around to try and wear DeGale down. But in order to do that, Groves is going to have to eat a career’s worth of power shots in a single fight against DeGale and it’s unlikely that Groves will be able to take that kind of punishment from DeGale for long without going down or cutting up. This isn’t a sparring session for Groves. He’s going to take heavy shots and it’s going to be difficult for him.

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