By Sean McDaniel: David Haye, promoter for Hayemaker Promotions, believes unbeaten British super middleweight champion James DeGale (10-0, 8 KO’s) is still unproven ahead of his big clash against Haye’s own fighter Geoge Groves (12-0, 10 KO’s) next month on May 21st at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), Greenwich, London.

In an article at frankwarren.tv, Haye said “I’m not saying DeGale can’t pass the gut check, but he is unproven at this stage, he hasn’t had to do it yet.” It seems kind of funny for Haye to say that DeGale is unproven when his own fighter Groves is also completely unproven as well. The closest thing that Groves has come to being tested was against Kenny Anderson, who just happened to drop Groves in their fight last year in November.

Groves, to his credit, got up off the deck to later on stop Anderson in the 6th round but Groves got hit an awful lot in winning the fight. It wasn’t the kind of performance that would suggest that Groves has the talent to beat a fighter in the class of DeGale. In contrast, DeGale recently defeated Paul Smith, a very good super middleweight in a 9th round stoppage last December.

DeGale, a 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, looked very sharp in that fight and fought in a relaxed manner throughout. DeGale literally toyed with Smith and made it look easy. It’s hard not to look at that fight and feel that DeGale will be able to do the same thing against a fighter that may not be even as good as Smith.

Groves, who has been sparring with super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell in Miami, Florida, says “James is good at throwing from a distance, throwing insults from the end of a table. But when we’re face to face it’s a totally different ball game. He talks at me like I’m a child – I’m not, I’m a 23-year-old man. As soon as it dawns on him, that’s when he’s going to be in deep water.”

DeGale doesn’t take Groves seriously as a fighter. He sees him as someone that’s not in the same class as him, and because of that DeGale doesn’t feel he needs to give Groves any respect. Groves is going to have to try and earn the respect on May 21st.