By William Mackay: WBA super middleweight champion George Groves (26-3, 19 KOs) has been given #11 WBA fringe contender Jamie Cox (23-0, 13 KOs) as his first opponent in the upcoming World Boxing Super Series.
Groves, 29, likes his chances of beating the undefeated Cox, pointing out that he’s a lot bigger than him and much more experienced as a pro. Cox started out his 10-year pro career as a welterweight, and he’s moved up all the way to super middleweight. Cox has still not faced a world class contender. That’s going to hurt him when he gets inside the ring with Groves.
The fighter that Groves has to worry about in the 8-man super middleweight bracket is unbeaten Callum Smith, who is matched up with Erik Skoglund for his first fight in the tourney. Smith, 6’3”, has the size and power to give Groves a lot of problems when the two of them eventually meet up.
“It’s not an easy fight, but there’s not an easy fight in there,” said Groves to IFL TV about his match-up with Cox. “I’ve never lost to a southpaw as a pro. I’m a lot bigger than Jamie. Me being bigger than my opponents has always been a plus. I have much more experience than Jamie Cox. I don’t think he’s even headlined a show before. He’s had one too many easy fights. This is my time to shine,” said Groves.
The winner of the super middleweight tournament will definitely see their popularity increase in the boxing world, but I don’t think it’s going to be that much of a boost to their careers. The one problem is there are too many talented super middleweights that won’t be taking part in the tournament. In the Super Six tournament held between 2009 and 2011, you had pretty much the best fighters in the 168lb division competing in the tourney.
The one big name that didn’t compete was Lucian Bute. He wasn’t missed too much by the boxing fans, as there were a lot of super fighters that took part in the tourney. It was the best of the 168lb division. In the case of the World Boxing Super Series, you don’t have the best. I think you have 3 very good fighters in Chris Eubank Jr., George Groves and Callum Smith. The other 5 fighters in the tourney are lacking.
Cox has not looked good in the last few years in fighting a lot of weaker opposition. He’s not stepped it up despite being a 10-year pro. Here are the last 7 opponents Cox has fought:
– Ivan Jukic
– Lewis Taylor
– Martin Fidel Rios
– Ferenc Albert
– Blas Miguel Martinez
– Alistair Warren
– Matiiuze Royer
Those are not world class fighters. Cox still hasn’t cut his teeth on fighting any of the world level fighters. Now he’s taking part in the World Boxing Super Series and fighting some of the best. I don’t think Cox will be ready for this step up in class.
It’s unclear what criteria the World Boxing Super Series has in adding fighters to their tournament. You can argue that the 30-year-old Cox is underserving up being one of the 8 fighters in the super middleweight portion of the tournament. A better fighter would be James DeGale, Anthony Dirrell, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez or David Benavidez. Those are very good fighters. One of them would be an excellent first opponent for Groves.
There are some questionable additions in the tournament at the super middleweight level. Rob Brant, Erik Skoglund and Jurgen Braehmer aren’t quite as solid fighters as some of the above mentioned fighters. Braehmer is a light heavyweight, not a super middleweight, and he’s coming off an elbow injury loss to Nathan Cleverly.
Here is the 8-man bracket for the World Boxing Super Series for the super middleweight division:
George Groves v Jamie Cox
Callum Smith v Erik Skoglund
Chris Eubank Jr/Arthur Abraham v Avni Yildirim
Jurgen Brahmer v Rob Brant
