Stieglitz vs. Groves on May 5th in Germany

By Boxing News - 04/02/2012 - Comments

Image: Stieglitz vs. Groves on May 5th in GermanyBy Scott Gilfoid: Well, it looks as if George Groves’s back injury has healed up enough for him to challenge for the WBO super middleweight title against champion Robert Stieglitz (41-2, 23 KO’s) on May 5th at the Messehalle, in Erfurt, Thuringen, Germany. Groves, 24, was supposed to be defending his domestic level Commonwealth super middleweight title against Kenny Anderson recently but came up with an injury that erased that fight.

Groves seems to be a fast healer because he’s already got a fight scheduled next month against the 30-year-old Stieglitz in Germany. I’m happy for Groves to get his payday fight against Stieglitz but I think it’s stupid. He’s not ready for a fighter in Stieglitz’s class yet and I doubt he ever will be. Groves will be going from facing guys like James DeGale, a fighter that Groves beat by a questionable decision last May, to fighting a guy arguably a lot better in Stieglitz. I think it’s dumb, dumb and dumb. I almost feel sorry for Groves because he’s going to get schooled by Stieglitz and will look bad in losing.

Groves is a four-year pro with zero world class opposition on his resume other than his fight against DeGale last year, and that wasn’t a shining performance. DeGale recently won a questionable decision over EBU super middleweight champion Piotr Wilczewski. That’s the same fighter that Arthur Abraham beat with ease last Saturday night. So what does that tell you? If Groves can’t even beat DeGale without controversy how is he going to be a fighter that can really bring like Stieglitz?

Stieglitz has really improved into an amazing talent with his ability to throw a lot of punches with pretty decent power. Stieglitz isn’t a huge hitter but he’s got power on the doorstep of the bigger hitters. But what makes Stieglitz so good is he throws a lot of punches, can take a good shot and has good passable boxing skills. He’s got to really bring it to Groves on May 5th and we may see Groves hitting the deck again like he did against Anderson.



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