By William Mackay: Former super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe can recognize talent when he sees it and he believes that undefeated 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and current British super middleweight champion James DeGale (9-0, 7 KO’s) will beat unbeaten super middleweight Commonwealth champion George Groves (11-0, 9 KO’s) when they meet up in 2011.

In an article at espn.co.uk, Calzaghe said “DeGale is an excellent fighter. I think groves is obviously a good fighter as well, so it’s going to be an even match but who knows? I suppose DeGale would be the favorite if they were to fight now, but we will see.”

Calzaghe is going to be really surprised at how easily DeGale beats the 22-year-old Groves, because this fight won’t even be competitive in my view. Groves is a good fighter, but not in the same class as DeGale. Groves showed that in his last fight against Kenny Anderson in November when Groves was dropped. It wasn’t just getting dropped that was the problem for Groves; It was the fact that he was getting hit so cleanly by Anderson. Had that been DeGale in there throwing hard combinations, Groves would have been in serious trouble.

Groves had this to say: “If everyone has me as the underdog, that is only going to give me more drive to win.” It may be, but if you don’t have the talent, it doesn’t matter how much drive Groves has. He’s still going to lose to DeGale when that fight finally comes off. I’m surprised Groves’ handlers are even taking the fight because DeGale is clearly the better fighter and he’s going to prove it.