Groves defeats Di Luisa by 5th round TKO

By Boxing News - 01/30/2016 - Comments

groves442By Scott Gilfoid: In a sick mismatch, former three-time world title challenger George Groves (22-3, 17 KOs) defeated 33-year-old Italian Andrea Di Luisa (18-4, 14 KOs) by a 5th round stoppage in super middleweight action at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK.

The fight was halted by Di Luisa’s corner after they threw in the towel in the 5th round after he was knocked down twice in the round. Groves also dropped Di Luisa in the 4th round when he touched his knee to the canvas.

In the 5th, Groves dropped Di Luisa with a right hand body shot. Moments later, Groves landed a chopping right hand that put Di Luisa on one knee again. When Di Luisa got to his feet, his corner threw in the white towel, causing the fight to be halted by Ian John-Lewis. The official time of the stoppage was at 1:55 of the round.

“I felt like I could dictate the pace from the get go. What was a miss was Di Luia’s power,” Groves said. “The plan was to get a good win. Sauerland is putting on shows. He wants to keep me busy. I don’t want to give away any secrets, but we’re working on a few things. I’m ready to challenge.”

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Let’s be real about this; It was a showcase fight for Groves to look good in by being matched against a 2nd tier guy that had basically no change. I mean, we are talking about a fighter that had been knocked out in 4 rounds just last year by an over-the-hill Lucian Bute. Heck, Bute did a better job in beating Di Luisa than Groves did. What does that tell you? Bute totally dominated Di Luisa from start to finish. Groves was getting nailed by Di Luisa, and was treating him like he was a live hand grenade in there instead of a 2nd tier job brought in as the sacrificial lamb for Groves to slaughter.

Di Luisa was bleeding from the nose after the 2nd round.

“There’s a lot of options out there. George is a big name in the division,” said Groves’ promoter Kalle Sauerland. “Sooner or later, we’ll challenge for a title.”

Groves had swelling on his left cheek from some of the hard shots that Di Luisa had landed in the fight. It’s surprising how Groves was starting to swell up considering the fact that he wasn’t even getting hit that much.

From what I saw tonight, I don’t think Groves would do well if he were put in with the likes of the other champions at 168 like Badou Jack, James DeGale or Arthur Abraham. Those guys would have too much punching power, stamina and skills for Groves, who looked red-faced and tired after just 5 rounds tonight.

Whatever the secret plans are for Groves by his promoter Kalle Sauerland, he would do well to keep him in the slow lane where it’s a lot safer than throwing him back out there with the better fighters and watching Groves get smacked around some more. Groves has already been whipped three times in world title shots, and I think it would be in his best interest to rest him up from getting beaten all the time, and instead have him try and learn under new trainer Shane McGuigan.

If Groves can get five or six wins under his belt with McGuigan, I think he would be in a stronger position when he does eventually fight for a title. It’s obviously a risk for Groves to fight that many times unless he’s going to be matched up with the kind of fodder opponent he was in with tonight. But it’s still smarter for Groves to learn some stuff with McGuigan than it would be if he were thrown into the ring with one of the champions like Badou, DeGale and Abraham. I mean, I’d hate to see Groves get brained again and wind up snoozing on the canvas like he was in his second fight against Froch. Badou had Groves down last September in the 1st round, and he likely would have finished him off in that round if he had attacked him hard.

I think Groves needs to lose some baby fat and move down to middleweight, because I don’t think he stands a ghost of a chance of winning a world title at super middleweight. He’s too limited, his chin too weak, his stamina nowhere, and his skills not up to par for him to ever win a world title at 168 in my view. As such, Groves should burn some blubber off his frame and go down to 160 and try his luck on WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. I would recommend that Groves move up to light heavyweight, but could picture what Groves would look like if he were tossed into the ring with the likes of Sergey Kovalev or Adonis Stevenson. Heck, Juergen Braehmer would likely do a number on Groves.



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