By Sean McDaniel: The bout between unbeaten Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (10-0, 8 KO’s) and James Obede Toney is off after Toney failed the eye exam when cataract problem was discovered for the Ghanaian fighter. As such, the fight is off and Groves’ promoter Hayemaker Promotions are looking in a different direction to try and find a suitable replacement.

Groves will now be fighting on the undercard of the Audley Harrison vs. David Haye bout on November 13th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester. This should give Groves some excellent visibility for whoever they find for him to fight.

Groves had an opportunity to fight 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist James DeGale, but Hayemaker and DeGale’s promoter were unable to agree on the negotiations. That would have been an excellent fight for both of the young super middleweights.

Prizefighter winner Patrick Mendy was offered to fight Groves, but he didn’t agree to take the fight.

In an article at Sky Sports, Groves said “I’m gutted. This was going to be a great show, this wasn’t a dead span night, there were some good fights on the undercard and I was really looking forward to it…We looked around tried to get someone, but it wasn’t to be. We’ll now look to the 13th, but I am not sure it will be a title defense now. I think it’s going to be against a top ranked European.”

Let’s hope so. The Toney wasn’t all that interesting. Toney had lost two out of his last five bouts, with both of them being knockouts to Lucian Bute and Roman Karmazin. It seems like Hayemaker needs to focus on finding better opponents for Groves unless they’re interested in padding his record with wins over 2nd tier opposition.

Groves looks okay on offense but his defense is poor and his footwork needs a lot of work. He’s stiff and more of a plodder compared to more athletic and mobile super middleweights in the division.