By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) has made it abundantly clear that he’s not too interested in facing fellow Brit James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) right now unless he’s well paid for the fight.
If not, then Groves will go ahead and face WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (29-0-1, 22 KOs) this spring while DeGale faces Andre Dirrell on April 25th for the vacant IBF title. Provided that Groves and DeGale both win their fights against the talented Dirrell brothers, Groves is interested in facing DeGale during the summer in a big all-British clash.
“This is a big fight. If James is clever and thinks to him ‘I can’t beat Groves, it’s my chance to win a few quid,’ why cash out in April? Let’s do it in the summer and make some real money,” Groves said via Skysports.com.
Yeah, it’s nice worthy goal for Groves to have to try and get through Dirrell in order to get the big money fight against DeGale in the summer, but it’s not a realistic one. I mean, the World Boxing Council just dropped some bad news on Groves this week when they gave Anthony Dirrell a four month extension before he has to defend his title.
This means that Groves is going to be sitting around for ages before he gets a fight against Dirrell later on the year. Since Groves seems to be interested in facing Dirrell first before facing DeGale, it strongly suggests that a fight between Groves and DeGale can’t take place until 2016 under the best possible scenario with both of them winning against the Dirrell brothers.
I don’t see that happening though, as I believe Andre Dirrell will totally clown DeGale in a one-sided whipping. And I think Anthony Dirrell will knock Groves out within 7 rounds at the most in a brutal knockout.
The question is will boxing fans want to see a beaten Groves and DeGale face each other in 2016 with both guys coming off knockout losses to the Dirrell brothers? Interestingly enough, I think a fight between Groves and DeGale still sells in the UK even with both guys coming off of losses to the Dirrells. However, the interest in the fight will likely be a lot less than it is right now with them having put together a handful of wins over fluff opposition.
I’m sure that Groves and DeGale can peddle their fight to the British boxing public with each of them licking their war wounds and possibly wounded pride after the Dirrell fights. I don’t know if it’s reasonable to expect the British public to purchase their fights on Sky Box Office, but I do think a lot of fans will still be interested in seeing the fight.
I mean, I don’t know if the ratings will be like Groves was hoping for, and I can’t see a huge crowd showing up for the fight, but some will come see it. Groves would likely have to forget all about putting the fight in Wembley Stadium, because that would be undoable if both guys are coming off of losses.
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