Groves wants rematch against DeGale

By Boxing News - 08/15/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves is finally showing interest in giving James DeGale a rematch five years after beating him by a controversial 12 round majority decision in 2011 in London, England. A lot has changed since then, as Groves has suffered two knockout losses to Carl Froch and a 12 round split decision defeat to Badou Jack last year.

Groves, #2 WBC, #4 WBO, #10 IBF, is in position to get a title shot in the near future against champions Badou Jack and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. However, Groves’ chances of winning those fights aren’t so good. Further, the money that Groves would make for fights against Jack and Ramirez likely isn’t as good as what he would make in a fight against DeGale. As such, you can understand why Groves would want to suddenly fight DeGale.

Heck, if Groves doesn’t fight DeGale to get a nice cash out fight, then he’s soon going to be getting beaten by Badou Jack or Ramirez. Whichever of those guys that Groves fights, he’s likely to lose. Let’s be real, Groves looked mediocre in his last fight against Martin Murray last June. Yeah, Groves won the fight, but only because Murray wasn’t throwing punches. During the times in the fight where Murray was throwing shots, Groves looked vulnerable, very vulnerable.

“We’d do it now. People have got more interest in seeing Groves against DeGale than DeGale against Badou Jack, although that is a good fight. But let’s not cut corners, the fight people want to see is Groves-DeGale,” said Groves’ promoter Kalle Sauerland to skysports.com. “They don’t need any belts on the line. It’s a real grudge fight that’s been building since George beat him a few years ago. They know our telephone numbers and we could find a solution, but it takes two to tango.”

Sauerland sure does sound eager, doesn’t he? I get the feeling that he knows that he needs to put Groves in with the best money fight he can make while there’s still a chance. If Sauerland waits until Groves fights Badou again or Gilberto Ramirez, then it will be too late, because Groves will likely get whipped by both of those guys. That’s why it’s a very good idea for Sauerland to be shopping for the DeGale fight right now. If they don’t do it now, then it may be too late afterwards.

I’m just wondering why Groves waited this long to show interested in facing DeGale again. Groves should have gone after the rematch with DeGale after he was knocked out in consecutive fights by Carl Froch. If that wasn’t a good time, then Groves should have definitely looked to fight a rematch with DeGale after Badou Jack beat him last year.

DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs) is supposed to be fighting a unification match against Badou Jack. The fact that the fight still hasn’t been made suggests to me that we probably won’t ever get a chance to see it. If it was going to happen, I think the fight would have been negotiated by now. DeGale and Badou were supposed to be fighting each other in September.

It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, does it? Perhaps it’s for the best that they don’t fight each other, because it’s not a sellable fight in the United States in my opinion, and I doubt that the British boxing fans will get worked up about the idea of paying to see DeGale fight Badou Jack. It’s not as if either of them are stars in the UK, and definitely they’re not stars in the States. As such, I don’t see it being beneficial for either of them to stick their necks out by fighting each other, because their fight probably won’t attract a lot of attention.

DeGale looked poor in his last fight against Rogelio Medina last April. DeGale won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, but he took a lot of heavy shots with his frequent rest breaks against the ropes. Medina was able to tee off on DeGale with a ton of huge shots. DeGale took the punches, but he did not look good in the fight. I had DeGale winning, but I thought it was a lot closer than the 117-111, 116-112 and 117-111 scores that were handed down by the judges.

Groves beat DeGale by the scores of 115-114, 115-114 and 115-115 in their fight in May 2011. I had DeGale winning the last six rounds of the fight, and one of the earlier rounds. At the worst, DeGale deserved to get a draw out of the fight, but definitely not a loss. I thought the scoring for that contest was a total joke. When Groves was asked whether he would give DeGale a rematch back then, he said he would, but he’s wait for the two of them to be champions or if a belt was on the line.

Well, it doesn’t look like DeGale and Groves will ever be champions at the same time. I can’t see that happening. Groves does not look good enough to beat any of the champions right now at super middleweight. Maybe he’ll get better later on down the line, but right now, Groves looks to be lacking in the talent department.

DeGale might as well fight Groves a second time because he’s probably going to lose to Badou kack if the two of them face each other, and there’s no real money in that fight. I don’t see Groves going anywhere with his career. His chin is too shaky.