(Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig) By Nedu Obi: George Groves heads into Saturday night’s fisticuffs with Andrea Di Luisa, fully aware he teeters on the precipice of world super-middleweight championship irrelevance. Without a doubt, it’s the last chance saloon for one of Britain’s most promising prizefighters.
To say the stakes are high would be an understatement bordering on the preposterous — anything save for a scintillating performance, and it’s A B C Ya — Bye! Gatekeeper status beckons.
From a subjective perspective, Groves will never be a world champion.
Why?
Two words: Carl Froch.
Froch stole his soul in their first encounter. In their second outing, “The Cobra” eviscerated any lasting trace of the aforesaid soul. And for the coup-de-grâce, it was thence bottled, sealed, and thereafter buried six-feet under.
The burial site has been pushing daisies ever since. You need proof?
Well look no further than his third and last title shot against underdog, and unheralded Badou Jack.
Given what was on the line, and the mere fact he’d twice gone toe-to-toe with arguably Britain’s best ever super-middleweight, you’d have expected the 27-year-old Londoner to throw everything — including the kitchen sink, and then some, to ensure he wrested the belt from “The Ripper,” but that fairy-tale ending was never going to transpire (refer back to burial site).
The former British, Commonwealth and European super-middleweight champion has been handed not one, but three stabs at world 168 lb. gold (in a lifetime, most fighters are lucky if they’re afforded one, let alone deux or trois), and he’s been found wanting on every single occasion.
Is he courageous? Undeniably so.
But stout-heartedness can only get you so far.
Is he talented? Absolutely.
However, there are levels of talent.
Maybe Groves was never an elite fighter in the first place.
Maybe domestic and European title challenges are as good as it gets.
Maybe throwing hands with pugilisms upper echelon was a stretch too far.
Maybe he suffers from that big stage debilitating sporting syndrome known as “Choking.”
As mentioned earlier, I stated that Groves (21-3, 16 KOs) will never wear championship gold. However, that doesn’t suggest he’ll never vie for another world title. Groves has that enviable knack of being in the right place at the right time. In that respect, fortuity watches over him.
Come Saturday night, all he has do, is take care of the Italian job. Needless to say, an uninspiring performance, or worse, a defeat at the hands of Di Luisa (18-3, 14 KOs), and its curtains — the doors to the last chance saloon will be permanently shut.
Some of you might deem my assessment of Groves as harsh, well I’ll have to beg to differ; in any combative sport, more so in boxing, throwing away three title tilts per se, is an egregious crime.
No longer shall Groves go by the cognomen “Saint,” from this point onwards, and, until he proves otherwise, it’s the “Sinner.”
What do you think? Please share your thoughts.
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