George Groves interested in Martin Murray fight

By Boxing News - 02/05/2016 - Comments

murray1By Scott Gilfoid: #3 WBC George Groves (22-3, 17 KOs) says he’s interested in fighting former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (32-3-1, 15 KOs) in a fight this year. Murray, 33, took the time to attend Groves’ fight last Saturday night against Andrea Di Luisa at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK.

Groves won the fight by a 5th round stoppage, but he was facing a lesser opponent in Di Luisa in a showcase/confidence booster type of fight.

Groves says he would be interested in facing Murray to give the British boxing fans a show for them to be entertained.

“I think that’s an ideal fight for me right now,” Groves said to skysports.com. “He [Murray] has challenged for world titles, he has moved up from middleweight and lost a split decision to Arthur Abraham so he proved he belongs in good company.”

Murray lost his last fight to WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham by a 12 round unanimous decision last November in Hannover, Germany. Murray had his movements in the fight in slightly buzzing Abraham with a big right hand shot in the 8th round. However, instead of taking advantage of the situation, Murray was unable to continue his momentum in the following four rounds of the contest. Abraham didn’t look anything special, but Murray looked even worse and lacked the punching power to get the job done.

You could see why Groves would be enthusiastic about fighting Murray. He realizes that he would have the power advantage, and Murray would be little more than a British version of Christopher Rebrasse. Groves wouldn’t have much to worry about in the fight like he did against Carl Froch and Badou Jack, both of which put Groves down on the canvas after clipping him with big shots.

Fighting Murray is a better option for Groves than fighting Callum Smith. I think Smith would be a very dangerous fight for Groves with his fragile chin, and I think that’s a fight that he shouldn’t take. If Smith lands something big, I think he’ll take Groves out. Smith punches harder than Badou Jack in my view, and I think it’s better for Groves to swerve around Smith than it would be for him to take that fight and wind up getting poleaxed again like in the Froch fight.

“I feel it’s a fight I’m very comfortable taking and winning – and winning well,” Groves said about the Murray fight. “I think the British fans would enjoy it, see it as a real 50-50 fight maybe and as I said, I’d certainly take it. And I know he’s interested. If he’s willing to come all the way down to watch me box! He must be interested.”

Groves’ promoters at Sauerland need to put him in with a light puncher like Murray, because if they mess up and put him in with someone with decent punching power, I could see Groves’ career going flat line. There would be no coming back for Groves if he gets knocked out again. If he loses again, I don’t think the sanctioning bodies are going to stubbornly keep him ranked in the top 5. I think he’ll get dropped out of the top 15, and rightfully so. Groves has too many losses in a short amount of time for him to be still ranked in the top 15.



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