Haye glad the BBBofC didn’t order DeGale-Groves rematch

By Scott Gilfoid: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye appears content with his fighter British/Commonwealth champion George Groves’ narrow 12 round majority decision win over James DeGale (10-1, 8 KO’s) last Saturday night and looks to be ready to move on rather than letting Groves fight DeGale again to really prove that he’s the better fighter. It doesn’t make much sense, though. Groves won by the slim scores of 115-114, 115-114 and 115-115, and Haye sees this as reason enough not to have Groves bother with a rematch.

It just doesn’t make sense. The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBof C) ruled earlier today that there’s no point in ordering a rematch between DeGale and Groves, as they didn’t see the outcome as being controversial. Haye said this about the BBBofC’s ruling on his twitter account earlier today: “The BBBofC have made the right decision.”

What is that? Is Haye afraid to put Groves back in with DeGale? If the fight is close and controversial and the interest and money is there, why wouldn’t Haye want Groves to fight DeGale again? It’s bizarre to say the least. For fans who didn’t see the fight, let me explain how it went. DeGale his time in the first four rounds, fighting relaxed and doing enough to win two out of the four.

Following the 4th round, DeGale kicked it up a gear and pretty much dominated the remaining eight rounds of the fight with his better power shots. Groves fought on the move and subsequently it robbed him of what little power he had. When he did stop and try to fight DeGale toe-to-toe, DeGale got the better of him with his better power and combinations. Groves’ game was basically a hit and move style, which still saw him getting dominated.

However, DeGale seemed to be disliked by the London crowd, resulting in Groves getting applause for almost everything he did in the fight. Even when he was missing, the crowd was cheering for him. I can’t stress enough how the crowd noise had a hand in Groves likely winning rounds where – if you could turn down the noise as I did with my television – DeGale appeared to do the better work. There it is the fight in a nutshell.

DeGale looked better, fought better, landed the harder shots throughout, yet Groves, the fighter the fans were screaming their lungs out over, was the one that got the decision. And to top it off, Haye doesn’t want a rematch. This is so sad. I think DeGale needs to move to the United States where he can find a lot of love with the boxing fans here and become a huge PPV star like Floyd Mayweather and be appreciated, not booed by the fans.

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