By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten Commonwealth champion George Groves (12-0, 10 KO’s) is really kidding himself if he thinks his 4th round TKO win over southpaw Daniel Allotey (13-2, 6 KO’s) last Saturday night prepared him in any way for a bout against British super middleweight champion James DeGale. Groves doesn’t look ready. More than that, Groves looks like he never will be ready. I hate to be the one to rain on Groves’ parade but the guy just doesn’t have the ability to beat a guy like DeGale. Heck, I rate Paul Smith a level above Groves.

Smith sure looks a lot better to me than what I saw of Groves in his last two fights now. Groves looks short for his listed height of 5’11 1/2.” Allotey was supposedly a half inch shorter than Groves at 5’11”, yet he toured over Groves by at least three inches from what I saw of the fight. My guess is Groves is around 5’8″, maybe 5’9″ at best. But his lack of height isn’t his biggest problem. It’s his lack coordination, hand speed, boxing ability, defense, and athleticism.

Groves just looks stiff, robotic and clumsy as heck. When he would throw shots, he would back in a cowering position. Allotey, a guy that looked like he had never boxed a round in his life, was able to land frequently when Groves was on his way out. Groves rarely had his hands up to block shots and even when he did, shots would sail through his gloves straight to his head. He just doesn’t have any hand eye coodination. Groves ended up getting a little swelling around both of his eyes in the Allotey fight last Saturday.

However, he was good enough to finish him off when Allotey pulled an amateur move by turning his back on Groves when he started to get hit in the 4th. When Allotey finally turned around, Groves dropped him in the corner. Allotey got up and was put down with another fight hand that had him doing the splits. I can’t say I was impressed with Groves. I definitely rate Paul Smith over this guy, and of course DeGale as well. If I was a promoter for Hayemaker, I’d try and put Groves in with Smith rather than DeGale. It won’t be fair with DeGale because Groves is so limited. It wouldn’t be fair with Smith either, but it least it would be fun to watch for a little while before Smith puts Groves’ lights out. For DeGale, it would be much too easy. Groves is really awful and reminds me of a super middleweight version of Matthew Hatton.