By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten super middleweight British champion James DeGale (10-0, 8 KO’s) has little respect for his May 21st opponent George Groves (12-0, 10 Ko’s) and can’t wait to get in the ring with him to put him in his place once in for all. The two have been verbally sparring back and forth for months, even before they were scheduled to fight. Now both are set to meet at the O2 Arena in London next month and DeGale will be looking to shut the 23-year-old Groves up on that night.

In speaking to the Independent, DeGale said “Groves is a fake…Adam Booth [Groves’s manager] has his hand right up his backside, talking for him, telling him what to say and what to do. At least with me, what you see is what you get. I just tell you the way it is.”

It’s all a part of the game. DeGale must realize that. Groves doesn’t have much chance of winning the fight but at least if he can get enough boxing fans interested in seeing the fight, Groves will be able to maximize his exposure even in losing. The two fighters appear to be fighting on different levels right now. Groves is fighting well at the domestic level, albeit struggling at times. While DeGale has shown true world class potential in his recent fights. DeGale just needs to move on from wasting time fighting domestic level guys like Groves and focus on what counts by taking on the best fighters in the super middleweight division. DeGale can leave Groves to win all the domestic level titles and reign supreme at this level once DeGale is gone.