By Scott Gilfoid: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye plans on having his green fighter Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (12-0, 10 KO’s) to spar with the talented super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell )19-1, 13 KO’s) to try and get Groves ready for the slick British super middleweight champion James DeGale (10-0, 8 KO’s) for their fight on May 21st in London, England.

Groves needs every chance he can get to win this fight because DeGale has the better hand speed, boxing skills and the right amount of elusiveness to hand Groves his backside on 5/21. Haye really admires the talent of Dirrell, who should be unbeaten due his controversial 12 round split decision loss to Carl Froch in the Super Six tourney. Haye recognizes what a gifted fighter Dirrell is and came to the U.S. to get his help for Groves.

On Haye’s twitter site, Haye said “We’ve managed to set up some sparring work between George and Andre, and I’ve got no doubt it will do them both the world of good. Andre id a very good world class mimic of DeGale, and will be able to show George moves and punches that neither he or DeGale will have seen yet. If George can get success against someone as tricky as Andre, he’ll have no problem breaking down DeGale’s southpaw style.”

Let’s be real here: Dirrell is going to mop the deck with Groves during their sparring sessions. If anything, Groves is likely going to come out of the sparring sessions depressed, depleted and mentally feeling hopeless because of the beating and mastery that Dirrell will be showing. Groves won’t be able to lay a glove on Dirrell, and I see the Brit getting his backside royally handed to him similar to the way Dirrell dominated Victor Oganov.

Sure, in a way I can see the sparring sessions helping Groves prepare for the DeGale fight, because DeGale doesn’t have anywhere close to the same hand speed and defensive ability as Dirrell has, and Groves will be able to fight a lot better than he would have without the Dirrell sparring sessions. However, DeGale is still a lot better fighter than Groves in my estimation and I don’t see how a couple of sparring sessions with Dirrell will be able to change all that. Groves would have needed a lifetimes’ worth of sparring and tailing Dirrell to beat DeGale. Dirrell is pure 100% American talent. It takes years to get to Dirrell’s level and Groves would need a lifetime of shadowing Dirrell for any of his magnificence to rub off.