By Scott Gilfoid: Former British super middleweight talent James DeGale believes that British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (13-0, 10 KO’s) will cave in if challenger Paul Smith (31-2, 17 KO’s) can connect with one of his big shots on Groves’ chin on November 5th at the Wembley Arena in London, England.

DeGale knows first hand about Groves after fighting him last May, and getting the better of Groves during many of the exchanges. The judges, however, seemed to side with the pro-Groves crowd, which were screaming their lungs out for Groves the entire fight while booing DeGale. It must have been difficult for DeGale to fight under those circumstances with the crowd mostly booing him and cheering for Groves. DeGale fought valiantly despite the hostile crowd noise.

Speaking with the westlondonsport.com, DeGale said “When Groves fought me he knew that if he mixed if he’d get knocked out. If he mixes it with Smith and gets hit on his chin he’ll be gone. Everyone knows about Groves’ chin…If Smith connects cleanly on him, he’ll get knocked out.”

I totally agree. Groves probably won’t mix it up with Smith, no way. He’ll likely be moving, using feints all night just like he did in the DeGale-Groves fight. I think plan A will be for Groves to attempt to fight Smith so that he can try and win impressively. But if Smith’s power proves too much for him, Groves may fall back on Plan B, and start using his legs to avoid Smith’s big shots.

I seriously doubt Groves will wait for his trainer Adam Booth to tell him to use an alternative strategy because waiting for Booth to give him instructions between rounds might prove fatal, because Smith will be feeding him too much power and there won’t be an option to wait for Booth to give him the Plan B. The fight will then revert an an ugly fight with Groves using feints and hit and run tactics all fight long in trying to win rounds. It’ll be a stinker no doubt unless Smith can use his expert skills to cut off the ring and force Groves to fight it out.