Groves doesn’t think DeGale should be fighting for the British super middleweight title eliminator bout

By Boxing News - 09/04/2010 - Comments

Image: Groves doesn't think DeGale should be fighting for the British super middleweight title eliminator boutBy Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten super middleweight George Groves (10-0, 8 KO’s) doesn’t approve of 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist James DeGale (7-0, 5 KO’s) fighting Carl Dilks (14-2, 5 KO’s) in the BBBofC British super-middleweight title eliminator match at the LG Arena, Birmingham, West Midlands. The winner of the DeGale-Dilks fight will be taking on British super middleweight champion Paul Smith (29-1, 15 KO’s) next. Groves thinks it should be him that is fighting in the eliminator bout, saying in an article at thesun.co.uk “It’s sad the powers that be have granted my old friend James ‘destined to fail’ DeGale a British title eliminator. It may not seem like much on the surface but to me it looks like he’s being conveniently slipped in to fight for the soon to be vacant British title.”

Groves, 22, sound green with envy for DeGale, but instead of complaining about it, Groves should see it as a good thing. Groves looked horrible in his last fight against Alfredo Contreras (11-9-1, 5 KO’s) on July 31st of this year. Groves was facing his best opponent and he was getting hit with pretty much everything that Contreras was throwing in that fight. Groves was hit with a looping right hand from Contreras in the 1st and he looked to be hurt by the shot.

Contreras can’t punch at all, but if he can do that against Groves, then a better fighter like Smith or DeGale would be a total catastrophe for Groves. He doesn’t look good, lacks the arm length and is just too hittable for guys like DeGale and the better super middleweights. I’m not very impressed with DeGale either, but I think he’s clearly the better fighter of the two. I don’t think Groves will ever be in the class of DeGale, so he shouldn’t complain about DeGale getting the chance and not him. DeGale has an Olympic Gold Medal and the last time I checked, Groves doesn’t.

I see Groves as a bottom 15 type a guy, a John Duddy of the super middleweight division. He’s a decent fighter, but I see him more as a bottom feeder rather than a guy that can compete with the likes of DeGale. And I don’t see DeGale anywhere near the same class as top super middleweights like Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Lucian Bute. There’s a huge difference between those guys and DeGale. Groves needs to stay away from DeGale and just focus on beating the British fighters for awhile.

Groves needs hand speed, arm length and the ability to block shots. He moves his head a lot but he gets hit just the same.



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