Booth: Groves isn’t ready for Froch or Ward
December 22nd, 2011
By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (14-0, 11 KO’s) would like nothing better than to get a crack at fighting recently beat former World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl Froch (28-2, 20 KO’s) and/or WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s).
Here’s my take: Groves lacks power that the better fighters have, and he doesn’t have much in the way of head movement. Groves’ best defense is his running around the ring all night like he did in his questionable win over James DeGale last May. Groves barely won the fight running the entire time and each time he stood for more than a second, he was taking punishment from DeGale.
Groves wouldn’t be able to compete with Ward and Froch or the other top super middleweights like the Dirrell brothers, Andre and Anthony Dirrell, and Lucian Bute would destroy him. This isn’t just a youth thing, because Groves is almost the same age as the Dirrell brothers and Ward. Heck, Ward was 25 when he beat Mikkel Kessler.
This is about basic ability. Three years from now Groves still won’t be able to beat Ward, Froch or Bute. But if it makes Booth happy to dream about a bright future for Groves then I’m happy for him. But the reality is Groves will hit a wall when he moves up against world class opposition. Groves is perfect where he is right now fighting domestic level fights but once he gets past this level he’ll have problems. I’d hate to see what Froch and Ward would do to Groves if Booth was brave enough to let him fight either of them. Froch obviously is vulnerable now given his loss, but he’s still way ahead of Groves and would walk through his shots to give him a bad beating.
Groves beat Paul Smith by a 2nd round knockout in his last fight last month on November 5th, but Smith was landing effectively with his right up until he ran into a shot he never saw and was badly hurt. He ended up hitting the canvas a couple of times before the fight was stopped.
12 Responses to “Booth: Groves isn’t ready for Froch or Ward”
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@ Nathan – What a ridiculous statement. So you’re saying that world level fighters somehow have miraculously better chins than domestic level? If a fighter gets hit with the same shot, whether they be domestic or world level, the opponent is going down, simple as that!! Someone’s chin doesn’t just improve so much that they can take constant clean shots.
nathan – the punch he k.od smith with wud have k.od any boxing at any level
He has power at domestic level but againt better fighters you can see that it won’t be there.
He never hurt or backed up James De Gale once in 12 rounds when they fought last May. The European level dude James fought a few months ago did hurt him.
You can say that again, Amir Khan hits harder than Groves! FACT!! And im no Khan fan either! Stick to Britich and Commonwealth son, you shouldnt get hurt there! Degale on the other hand either needs to change trainer or come down in weight, he looks heavy and has made no progress in the last 2 years! Brit and boxing fan!!
Im a brit, and an avid boxing fan, and lets be honest Degale and Groves are mediocre at best! Degale slightly slicker but has come unstuck (after a promising start to his career) and for me needs to drop a weight as he looks to clumsy at smw! Or change his trainer because his progress has come to a sudden halt! Groves doesnt “bang” at all! Compare the punch power of Froch, Dirrell, Ward, Bute etc and they all hit alot harder than George Groves, lets not follow the Americans lead on this site and big up all our fighters just coz theyre british, if theyre rubbish then their rubbish end of! Groves what a joke, i could train for a few months and “bang” this fella out and i train in MMA!
wot a joke
groves lacks power but 11k.os in 14!! k.os paul smith in 2 rounds? james degale took 11 rounds? groves wud probably loose to froch but wud be a great fight
Comments not being posted again……. It’s ok for the writer/web site administrator to publish this tripe, but when knowledgable fans post comments we have to be sanitised at their discretion.
scott says groves lacks power. lets ask paul smith what he thinks.
“Lacks power” Really, you see his right hand. He can bang.
Groves vs Ismayl and Sakio vs Cleverly if he’s not scared make it happen
I would say that Groves has faced better opposition that Anthony Dirrell has at this point in their respective careers. Nuff said
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True, but Dirrell would KO Groves so it really doesn’t matter.