By Scott Gilfoid: #10 WBO Martin Murray (32-2-1, 15 KOs) could wind up facing #3 WBC Sauerland fighter George Groves (21-3, 16 KOs) if he can get past WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (43-4, 29 KOs) in their fight next Saturday night on November 21st at the Tui Arena, in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.
#10 WBO Murray, 32, says that Groves is one of the guys that he could be facing if/when he defeats the 35-year-old Abraham in their fight in Germany.
It’ kind of interesting that the 27-year-old Groves is one of the guys that has a chance for a fight against Murray if he can get past Abraham, because Groves has lost 3 out of his last 5 fights in losses to 168lb champions Badou Jack and Carl Froch [X 2].
Normally, when a fighter loses a ton of fights in a short period of time, they get dropped from the top 15. Heck, I’ve seen top fighters get dropped entirely from the top 15 after they lose one fight. I’m just wondering why the World Boxing Council still has Groves at No.3 after three defeats in his last five fights?
I don’t understand that. I mean, they had Groves at No.1 last September before his loss to WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack. But after the loss to Badou, Groves was only dropped two places to No.3. It’s very strange and hard to understand. Anthony Dirrell was dropped way down in the WBC’s after his loss to Badou Jack last year, and only recently he’s started to rise again.
“I’ve got obligations with rematches. There’s a rematch clause in there but along with Abraham, it’s another three Sauerland fighters, including George Groves and Vincent Feigenbutz,” Murray said via skysports.com.
Well, it looks like Martin Murray is going to have his hands full if he can beat Abraham next Saturday. Murray will have a rematch with Abraham, as part of the rematch clause, and then be looking at fights against other Sauerland fighters in Groves and Feigenbutz. Murray is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport.
Abraham has been busy fighting Hearn’s fighters, as two out of his last three fights have come against Hearn’s fighter Paul Smith. With Abraham now fighting Murray, he’ll have fought 3 out of his last 4 fights against Hearn’s Matchroom Sport fighters. That’s pretty remarkable how those two promotional companies are going back and forth with fights against each other lately. I wonder when a non-Matchroom Sport fighter will get a chance at the WBO belt?
I don’t think Groves deserves a title shot at the WBO 168lb belt. I mean, we are talking about a fighter who lost his last fight to Badou Jack, and who has lost 3 out of his last 5 fights. It might just be me, but shouldn’t Groves actually need to fight his way back to another title shot rather than getting an opportunity straightaway off of a loss to Baou?
Call me a traditionalist, but shouldn’t that be the way the sport of boxing is done? If this was the NFL and a team lost in the Super Bowl game, it would look kind of strange if that team was given another shot at playing in Super Bowl without having to play their way to that point by going to a full season, beating some teams in the playoffs and Championship game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTr8LvauDs
If Groves can just get another world title fight off a loss to Badou Jack, it would seem weird to me. The World Boxing Organization is in charge of things for their champions, so if they let Murray fight Groves immediately, then I guess the WBO is good with this kind of thing. I know if I was in charge of the WBO, I wouldn’t bless a fight between Murray and a fighter coming off of a loss like Groves.
Heck, the last time I checked, Groves isn’t even ranked in the top 15 by the WBO. So is the WBO just going to make an exception to their rules that WBO champions can’t defend their titles against non-WBO top 15 ranked contenders or will they simply rank Groves so that it’s all good?
I don’t think Murray is going to beat Abraham, so none of this will really matter in that case. Murray is talking about potentially retiring from boxing if he loses the fight to Abraham.
“If I get beat, it could be my last fight,” Murray said to IFL TV.
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