By Scott Gilfoid: If there’s one thing that kind of jumped out at me when watching unbeaten super middleweight contender George Groves dismantle a made to order Francisco Sierra last Saturday night in a 6th round stoppage it’s Groves’s lack of flexibility, average hand speed and his problems blocking right hand shots.

The flexibility problem may end up being the limiting factor or Groves’ career I hate to say. Sure, he’s got a little power, but his power isn’t extraordinary by any means and neither is his hand speed or lack thereof. But the flexibility issue could be what keeps Groves from beating the better fighters in the division. He just seems too stiff, like he’s someone that’s spent too much time weightlifting in his life. He doesn’t appear as athletic as some of the better fighters in the division, and that’s a crucial factor that will cause Groves problems. I really hope I’m wrong on this but I don’t think I am. Groves is too stiff and he’s going to have problems against athletic fighters with more flexibility and speed.

Groves was getting really tagged by Sierra in the fight and it was a close fight until Groves was able to hurt Sierra in the 6th. The Mexican fighter made it easy for him by just standing there with his guard up without punching. Sierra was like a punching bag just waiting to be hit. He wasn’t like a real contender who would moving around the ring and firing shot after shot at Groves. But the thing is despite looking very limited, Sierra still was fighting Groves to a standstill going into the 6th round. He had Groves’ face reddened and bleeding badly from a cut.

I know there are a few people who are really on the Groves bandwagon right now, in particular Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, but I think Groves is going to have big problems once he faces a live body. This whole hype thing reminds me a lot of middleweight Daniel Jacobs, who Golden Boy was hyping for a while until he got smashed in his first real test by Dmitriy Pirog. Jacobs’ hasn’t really bounced back from that defeat unfortunately.