By Scott Gilfoid: Realizing that it’s probably fruitless to pursue a rematch with George Groves (13-0, 10 KO’s) after being on the receiving end up a controversial 12 round majority decision loss last Saturday night, DeGale has wisely recognized that he doesn’t need Groves in order to find success. DeGale will find it anyway whether Groves gives him a rematch or not. I see Groves as an English version of Sergio Mora. He’s the exact same fighter, only not quite as good as him on defense. Mora doesn’t need to use just his legs to make his opponents miss. He can move his upper body to get out of the way of shots. Groves is limited with just his ability to run around the ring. When he’s in punching range, he’s utterly hittable.

I’d say that DeGale is much better off if he doesn’t fight Groves because unless they can have the fight take place in a neutral venue outside of the UK, I think DeGale would have trouble getting a fair shake. The fans in the UK seem to be pretty much staked against DeGale, even though he’s the best fighter the country has right now. It’s odd that the fans sometimes turn against the best fighters they have and drive them away to other countries to live, but that’s what it seems like here. DeGale is better off facing guys that come to fight and don’t run around all night long looking to spoil. I had DeGale winning by four rounds, and that’s with DeGale getting a late start.

DeGale said this after Saturday’s fight: “Hopefully we can get the rematch. I don’t kow. But that’s what I want straight away. He can’t be too proud of that win. He nicked it. I’m going to move on to bigger and better thing with him or without him.”

Now that’s what I’m talking about. If someone doesn’t want to fight you, move on and fight better guys and forget about Groves. He’s going to get beaten when he steps up anyway. DeGale showed that Groves doesn’t have the power or the ability to trade. Groves has to run in order to survive and try to scrape out wins. You can’t do that every time. You might be able to do that when fighting in your home country with the crowd in your favor and the judges giving you the benefit of the doubt, but that’s not dominating.

Groves is going to lose when he steps up against another guy near the class of DeGale. That running junk won’t take Groves far, believe me. I’m surprised his own countrymen can’t see that. It’s painfully obvious to me, and I’m just calling them like I see them. I wish Groves did look better and shown the power and chin needed to stand and trade with DeGale, but he didn’t. Had Groves stood and traded with DeGale all night long, Groves would have been destroyed long before the 9th round.

If you don’t believe me, watch how Groves couldn’t handle it when DeGale was catching up to him and battering him in the second half of the fight. After seeing that, do you honestly believe that Groves can ever hang with guys like Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Sakio Bika or Andre Ward? Heck, even Froch would do a number on him. If you really think that Groves can ever been those guys than you’re kidding yourself. Groves isn’t good enough now and he’s not going to be good enough in the future. He’s topped out his potential and this is as good as it gets. I think he’s a decent fighter but his foot is literally to the floor in terms of getting all he can out of his limited talent. He’s maxed out. In contrast, DeGale has a lot more to him than Groves and has much more potential.