By Scott Gilfoid: British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves is reportedly about to sign with Matchroom in hopes of getting to the next level in fights against Carl Froch and Andre Ward.
Groves, 23, is currently promoted by Hayemaker. However, he hasn’t fought since defeating British super middleweight champion James DeGale by a narrow 12 round – controversial – decision in May. Groves still doesn’t have a fight planned after all these months. DeGale is fighting for the European super middleweight title.
Groves said this to the dailystar.co.uk: “I am on top of the pile but the idea is still the same and Adam Booth reckons it is 18 months before I am fighting the top men like Carl Froch and Andre Ward. Froch and Ward are where I want to be in 18 months…There are plenty of fights to keep me busy before I face the likes of Carl Froch.”
Groves has a lot of work ahead of him before he’s ready for either Froch or Ward, as he didn’t look particularly powerful against DeGale. Groves used a lot of movement to avoid standing and trading with DeGale. When he did stop to trade, Groves got the worst of it. He seemed to be at his best when he was hitting and running.
That style will only carry you so far in the super middleweight division. It won’t work against Andre Dirrell, DeGale, Ward and probably not even Froch. Groves has to develop some power if he wants to compete with the better fighters. He won’t be able to run his way to a title. There are too many good fighters in the division for him to be a poor man’s version of Andre Dirrell. All the things that Groves does, Dirrell does a lot better and this has nothing to do with age. Dirrell was always good at moving and firing with blazing fast combinations.
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