Groves: I’m knocking on the door for a world title

By Boxing News - 01/31/2016 - Comments

groves634By Scott Gilfoid: Fresh off his 5th round stoppage victory over second tier fighter Andrea Di Luisa (18-4, 14 KOs) last night at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK, George Groves (22-3, 17 KOs) crowed about his win, saying that he feels he’s on the door for yet another world title fight after this victory.

Groves has failed three times in world title fights, and yet he’s loading up for another world title try. It seems that his win over the over-matched, undersized and underpowered 33-year-old Di Luisa has put ideas into Groves’ head, because he’s already chomping at the bit to get back into the ring with another world champion.

The last time Groves was whipped by a world champion was just last year when WBC 168lb belt holder Badou Jack battered him in winning a 12 round decision. The other times that Groves fought for world titles ended in even worse fashion with him getting knocked out by Carl Froch.

“I want to be busy. I’m happy to fight anybody,” Groves said to IFL TV. “I’m becoming relevant again. I’m knocking on the door for a world title. I’m happy to fight Martin Murray. I like Martin Murray. I’m a fan of his. He’s a super middleweight now. He had a few good wins. He’s got a loss to Arthur Abraham. It would be a good fight for the British crowd. If it comes along, I’ll happily take it. Likewise, if they want me to fight Callum Smith, Rocky Fielding, James DeGale, or any other Brits, it might happy,” said Groves.

I think Groves would be best to forget about fighting for world titles for a year or two in order to improve and build up some more confidence. If Groves could beat the likes of Callum Smith, Fielding and Martin Murray, then I think he would be in position mentally and physically to fight for another world title.

Nevertheless, I think Groves should fight all three of those guys and prove that he can beat them before he goes running at the mouth talking about being ready to fight for a world title. If Groves beats just one of them, and then proclaims himself ready for a world title challenge, I think he’ll wind up getting smacked around by another world champ.

It’s better if Groves can get three good wins under his belt so that he can improve and gain some more confidence. I mean, I personally wouldn’t feel confident about my own self if I whipped a guy like Di Luisa. You’ve got to do better than that if you want to get ready to fight the champions in the division, even though I think the champions are kind of barren when it comes to talent. Heck, all the current champions are more like moderately talented contenders rather than true champion level guys in my view. Badou Jack is probably the best of the bunch, but he’s definitely flawed to the extreme.

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Groves did what he had to do last night in knocking Di Luisa down three times in getting a 5th round stoppage, but the win showed us absolutely nothing about whether Groves has come back from his recent three defeats. Yeah, Groves saved his career with the win over Di Luisa, but only short period of time. It was like an exhibition fight in my opinion rather than a real fight due to the low quality opponent that Groves fought.

Now if Groves fought one of the Dirrell brothers and proved that he could beat them without controversy, then he could open his yap and start crowing about how he’s knocking on the door for another world title fight. But for Groves to be blabbering about being ready for a world title shot after a win over a lower level fighter like Di Luisa, it just seems laughable and wrong-headed. Groves’ promoters at Sauerland Events needs to sit him down and make him understand that he just beat a C-level fighter in Di Luisa and not an A or a B-level guy.

Groves needs to put things in perspective so that he can understand that he has a LONG, LONG ways to go before he’s ready to fight for another world title. Groves can do what he wants obviously, but I think it would stupid if he starts foaming at the mouth after a win over a limited guy like Di Luisa and rushing into a title fight against one of the current champions.

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Like I said before, I think Groves should lose some baby fat and drop down to 160 to challenge WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders for his title. Groves could then rehydrate to the 170s or 180s and enjoy a huge weight advantage over Saunders so that he can could crush him inside the ring on the night of the fight. I think Groves is ready for Saunders right now, but I definitely don’t think he’s ready to fight a guy his own size for a world title at super middleweight.



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