By Nate Anderson: Unbeaten super middleweight prospect George Groves (3-0, 2 KOs) stopped former British challenger Paul Samuels (19-6-2, 11 KOs) in the 1st round on Saturday night at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool. Groves, 21, dropped Samuels with a big right hand in the 1st, and moments later knocked him off balance with a couple of punches that missed but still were able to get Samuels to stumble backwards into the ropes.
The referee, who clearly was mistaken in thinking that Samuels was hit with the two shots, stepped in and stopped the action. Samuels, 36, was furious at the referee and immediately shoved him hard in the chest. Things were quickly cooled down, although Samuels would continue to march around the ring and complain about the stoppage.
Samuels was right about the bad stoppage, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered because Groves was dominating the fight, battering Samuels with big shots and not getting hit with anything in return.
Groves, a former 2007 and 2008 ABA middleweight champion, pounced on Samuels in the 1st round, knocking him off balance with a hard left-right combination seconds into the fight. Groves, who had spent time training with World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Carl Froch recently, used a lot of feints and head movement, trying to trick Samuels out of position.
Samuels initially was able to land a few shots, but when Groves started letting his hands go, that was pretty much it for Samuels on the night. Groves began to blast him with double right hands to the head and body, putting a lot of power on his shots.
It wasn’t as if Groves was really trying to throw hard, he just has really heavy hands and everything Groves throws he tends to land hard. Groves’ fighting style looked somewhat like Froch’s, except that Groves was much quicker, trickier and more elusive than Froch.
Groves would continue landing big right hands a minute into the round before landing a huge left hand that snapped Samuel’s head back. Groves landed two more big right hands and then dropped Samuels with a mammoth right hand shot to the head.
Groves looks like a much better prospect than heavyweight David Price, who fought on the same card and also was victorious.
After Samuels got up, Groves was patient, jabbing and looking for an opening. He finally saw his chance and landed a big clubbing right hand to the head that stunned Samuels. Groves then fired off two right hands, both missing with Groves’ forearm landing on the back of Samuels, knocking him off balance and backwards to the ropes. At this point, the referee stepped in and stopped the bout.
“He was a step up in class for me,” Groves said afterwards. “I showed everyone what I’m capable of. I got power. I’m looking to knock people out. I was upset with the stoppage of the bout. I was just getting into it. I wish it did to a few more rounds. I want to move as quickly as possible against better competition. I’m ready for more. “ In referring to James DeGale, who Groves beat in the amateur ranks, Groves said “I hope he can follow me, and one day we can fight.”
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