By Jeff Aranow: In a surprisingly competitive fight, George Groves (27-3, 20 KOs) destroyed #9 WBA Jamie Cox (24-1, 13 KOs) in the 4th round with vicious right hand body shot to retain his WBA Super World super middleweight title in the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Super Series tournament at The SSE Wembley Arena in London, UK.
Groves blocked a right hook from Cox and then nailed him with a right to the midsection. Cox then collapsed on the canvas holding his midsection and grimacing in pain. The referee Steve Gray then counted the 31-year Cox out. The official time of the stoppage came at 1:42 of round 4.
Cox fought recklessly at times, especially in the 4th round when he threw a lead right hook that Groves countered with a right to the body for the knockout blast. This was a very exciting fight. Cox did himself proud by going to war with Groves from start to finish.
Cox obviously realize that his best chances for success was to push a fast pace to try and tire Groves out the way that Carl Froch did in his first fight with him in 2013. Cox didn’t possess Froch’s ability to take body shots. Froch didn’t leave himself open the way that Cox did.
Boxing News 24 had Cox ahead 2 rounds to 1 at the time of the stoppage. Cox appeared to win rounds 1 and 2. Groves came on in the 3rd round with the power of his right hand letting him dominate the lighter but faster Cox. Groves was setting traps for Cox in the 3rd round, trying to get him to commit to his shots so that he could counter him big right hands straight down the middle.
Cox fought well in the 1st round in hurting Groves with a left to the head after backing him up against the ropes. However, Groves came back in the last 20 seconds of the round to land 2 hard right hand counters that connected to the head of Cox. To his credit Cox took the shots well without showing signs of being hurt. But it was clear that Cox wasn’t going to be able to take too many of those monstrous shots for long without dropping for the 10 count.
The southpaw Cox used his quick hands to nail Groves with some nice lefts in the 2nd round. Groves took the punches well, and responded with rights that kept Cox at a respectful distance. However, near the end of the round, Cox tagged Groves with 2 lefts that hit him flush. Cox fought well enough to deserve the 2nd round.
Groves, 29, will now meet up with IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. in the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series tournament in early 2018 in the UK at a still to be determined location. Groves will need to fight a little better against Eubank Jr. than he did tonight if he wants to get the victory. Cox was able to hit Groves far too much. Cox is probably as good a puncher as Eubank Jr. The only difference is Eubank Jr. throws so many shots with his high volume attack, and he’s a lot quicker than Groves.