Groves to fight in September, and then challenge Bika-Dirrell winner in December

By Boxing News - 07/06/2014 - Comments

groves6By Scott Gilfoid: With his once promising career crumbling after back to back knockout losses to IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch in his last two fights, George Groves (19-2, 15 KO’s), #6 WBA, #8 WBO, #11 IBF, reportedly will be back in the ring this September to fight against an opponent that will likely be announced this week by Sauerland Events.

Provided that Groves wins that scrap, he’ll be back in the ring in December to fight the winner of the August 16th fight between WBC super middleweight champion Sakio Bika (32-5-3, 21 KO’s) and #5 WBC Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KO’s), according to The Mirror.

The idea is for the 26-year-old Groves to win the WBC 168 pound title so that he has a strap in his possession for a potential unification match against Sauerland promoted WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham.

Having the Abraham-Groves fight be a unification match is a much bigger fight than if Groves comes into the fight after a victory over whoever Sauerland will be matching him up against in September.

I’m guessing that Groves will be matched up against a soft touch with little in the way of punching power for his September fight in order to make sure there are no lingering effects from his brutal knockout loss at the hands of Froch from last May. It’s hard to tell what Sauerland will do, because if they’re willing to risk Groves’ hide by putting him in against the winner of the Bika-Dirrell II fight, then they might be interested in having Groves fight a live body in September and not just a stiff like I imagine he’ll be fighting.

I don’t see Groves being able to defeat either Dirrell or Bika, no way. Those guys can really punch, and they would be teeing off on Groves with head shots hoping they could duplicate what Froch did. I expect Dirrell to defeat Bika next month, so it’s really going to come down to Dirrell vs. Groves. I have a feeling that if Dirrell destroys Bika in an impressive fashion with a one-punch knockout, we’ll see Sauerland change their plans for Groves by going to the Abraham fight straightway without putting him in with a dangerous guy like Dirrell.

Groves is too easy to hit, and his chin is far too fragile to have a big puncher with the hand speed that Dirrell possesses nailing him with monstrous left hands and right hooks to the head. With a few minor adjustments in his work rate, Dirrell should be able to beat Bika with ease in their rematch, and that’ll put Sauerland in the position where they’re going to need to make up their mind whether they feel Groves has the kind of talent needed to beat a guy like Dirrell.

Like I said, I can’t see it happening. They’ll steer a wide path around Dirrell and just go for the sure thing by putting him in with Abraham without a title in his possession. Groves is going to have major problems either way, because Abraham punches like a mule kicks, and he’s going to be testing Groves’ chin with massive punches in every round of the fight.

Abraham is one of those guys who is able to punch with massive power even in late in his fights, which is a bad thing for Groves, because he fades badly after 6 rounds. Abraham will be bouncing bombs off of Groves’ chin in the second half of the fight, and I see this going badly for Groves.



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