Groves vs. Anderson in needless rematch on March 16th

By Boxing News - 01/13/2012 - Comments

Image: Groves vs. Anderson in needless rematch on March 16thBy Scott Gilfoid: British super middleweight champion George Groves (14-0, 11 KO’s) will be taking his career backwards on March 16th to fight a pointless rematch against Kenny Anderson (15-1, 11 KO’s), a guy that the 23-year-old Groves stopped in the 6th round in November 2010.

I suppose the reason for the rematch was the fact that Groves was knocked down in that fight in the 3rd round and had problems with Anderson’s power, which forced Groves to run around the ring in a David Haye imitation of his fight with Wladimir Klitschko. But I don’t see the point in the fight.

Anderson gassed out after the 5th and was stopped in the 6th. I don’t see how things will be any different in the rematch. Groves isn’t any stronger than he was then and still can’t afford to stand in front of this guy for long if he wants to stay upright.

Anderson is simply the stronger fighter in terms of power and is a lot more rugged as well. All I can see happening is Groves running around the ring and stinking up the joint like he did last time while trying to survive and maybe winning a decision or a knockout after Anderson tires out again.

Shouldn’t Groves be moving forward with his career instead of looking backwards and trying to improve on past performances against 2nd tier fighters? Groves is ranked #10 IBF, #10 WBA and #11 WBC, so why is he fighting a 2nd tier guy. It’s time to dump the domestic strap and start fighting world class fighters instead of going over old opponents and trying to beat them even more convincingly. Heck, if Groves wants to fight an old opponent, why he doesn’t step up to the plate and fight James DeGale again?

I thought Groves lost the fight to DeGale last year, and I was not impressed in the least with Groves’ spoiling fighting style. Why doesn’t he fight DeGale again? That’s the guy he should be looking to improve his performance against, not some guy like Anderson, who Groves already knocked out. Would Lennox Lewis or Joe Calzaghe go back and fight guys they already knocked out in the past just so they can try and knock them out quicker next time? No way.

Those guys would say forget that and just move forward. I think it’s time for Groves to face some upper division fighters instead of getting matched against guys like Anderson and Paul Smith. Take the training wheels off the guy. He’s losing his hair and I’d hate to see the guy losing his teeth as well by time he’s finally put in with a world class fighter.



Comments are closed.