By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is saying that #1 WBC super middleweight George Groves now has to wait for a fight against James DeGale, because he missed his chance to make the fight happen. Hearn says that even if Groves were to turn around and say that he now wants the fight, he’d still have to wait for the fight, because DeGale is now facing #2 IBF contender Andre Dirrell for the vacant IBF super middleweight belt on April 25th.

Hearn had been recently offering Groves a fight against DeGale for the vacant IBF title. Hearn’s idea was to offer Andre Dirrell a deal where he would receive a small fee to step aside so that Groves and DeGale could fight for the vacant IBF title instead of him. Dirrell would then fight on the undercard of the Groves-DeGale fight in the UK.

Following that fight, Dirrell would then fight the winner of the Groves-DeGale fight in June, Hearn says. Whether Dirrell would have ever accepted such a deal is unclear. I mean, I think he’d be open to getting some cash to step aside, but Hearn said that it would be a few quid and not big money for Dirrell to step aside.

Somehow I don’t see Dirrell stepping aside for a few quid, so Hearn might have been assuming a little too much when he was planning in his mind a scenario where Groves and DeGale could fight for the vacant IBF strap. But none of this is neither here nor there now, because Groves turned down the 50-50 deal that Hearn was offering him to fight DeGale. And now Hearn is saying that Groves has to wait his turn to fight DeGale, which means that Hearn is counting on DeGale doing his part by beating Andre Dirrell on April 25th.

Groves might end up having a long, long wait to fight DeGale if he gets whipped by Andre Dirrell on 4/25. Depending on how well Hearn builds DeGale back up after a loss to Dirrell, it could take from three to four years for him to get back to where he is now. DeGale is 29-years-old now, so we could be looking at him getting back in the swing of things by the time he’s 33. That’s kind of a ripe age for a super middleweight to be trying to make things happen in the division, isn’t it?

“That’s done; whether he [Groves] turns around tomorrow and says ‘I made a mistake [by not agreeing to fight DeGale]. Can I?’ The answer is no. Now you’ve got to wait…Now he’s [Groves] made a terrible, terrible mistake,” Hearn said via IFL TV. “He [Groves] wants a 65/35 deal… [But] The IBF rule for vacant titles if 50-50.”

I doubt that Groves will lose any sleep in not getting the DeGale fight. In his mind, he’s already beaten DeGale and established that he’s a huge draw due to his two huge fights with Carl Froch. I don’t see Groves ever agreeing to a 50-50 deal with DeGale, even if Anthony Dirrell obliterates him in their fight in October or November of this year. Groves will still likely want a bigger slice of the pie in a fight against Degale. That’s why it’s perhaps better for Hearn to come to terms with Groves needing the bitter money if he continues to try and match DeGale with him in the future.

It’s probably not going to happen unless Hearn offers a 65/35 or 70-30 deal for Groves to take the fight. If both DeGale and Groves lose to the Dirrell brothers, which seems very likely to be the case, then nothing really changes in terms of the negotiations.

Hearn went on to say that Groves turned down the chance to fight “for the vacant IBF title for probably 20 times for what you would have received for the Anthony Dirrell fight. For some reason, he believes he should get 65/35. What if James doesn’t beat Andre Dirrell? What if you don’t beat Anthony Dirrell? What if one does and one doesn’t? They ain’t going to do a deal. If you both win you’re probably not going to do a deal, because you think you should be getting 70 percent because you went to America. Now is the chance,” Hearn said.