By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (14-0, 11 KO’s) would like nothing better than to get a crack at fighting recently beat former World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl Froch (28-2, 20 KO’s) and/or WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s).

However, Groves’ trainer Adam Booth feels the 23-year-old Groves isn’t ready for either Froch or Ward at this early point of his career, saying to Sky Sports News “If you fight George, look for him with the right hand because you find him. I guarantee if you do find him you won’t hurt him…He gets caught by Paul Smith with the right hand. I’ve no doubt he’ll get there, but go into a fight against someone like Ward or Froch at this stage? No.”

Here’s my take: Groves lacks power that the better fighters have, and he doesn’t have much in the way of head movement. Groves’ best defense is his running around the ring all night like he did in his questionable win over James DeGale last May. Groves barely won the fight running the entire time and each time he stood for more than a second, he was taking punishment from DeGale.

Groves wouldn’t be able to compete with Ward and Froch or the other top super middleweights like the Dirrell brothers, Andre and Anthony Dirrell, and Lucian Bute would destroy him. This isn’t just a youth thing, because Groves is almost the same age as the Dirrell brothers and Ward. Heck, Ward was 25 when he beat Mikkel Kessler.

This is about basic ability. Three years from now Groves still won’t be able to beat Ward, Froch or Bute. But if it makes Booth happy to dream about a bright future for Groves then I’m happy for him. But the reality is Groves will hit a wall when he moves up against world class opposition. Groves is perfect where he is right now fighting domestic level fights but once he gets past this level he’ll have problems. I’d hate to see what Froch and Ward would do to Groves if Booth was brave enough to let him fight either of them. Froch obviously is vulnerable now given his loss, but he’s still way ahead of Groves and would walk through his shots to give him a bad beating.

Groves beat Paul Smith by a 2nd round knockout in his last fight last month on November 5th, but Smith was landing effectively with his right up until he ran into a shot he never saw and was badly hurt. He ended up hitting the canvas a couple of times before the fight was stopped.