By Scott Gilfoid: WBC Silver super middleweight champion James DeGale (14-1, 9 KO’s) has serious doubts whether Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (16-0, 12 KO’s) will ever make it to the next level and become a world champion. Groves is currently just a domestic level belt holder, but he’ll likely be looking to capture DeGale’s recently vacated European Boxing Union (EBU) super middleweight strap now that it’s up for grabs.
DeGale wasn’t impressed with Groves’ recent win over 43-year-old Glen Johnson, and he doesn’t see anything from that performance that would suggest that Groves can make it as a champion someday.
DeGale said to Sky Sports Ringside “I can [become world champion], and I most definitely will. Remember I said that. I’m not too sure about him [Groves]. [I lost] controversially [to Groves]. It was very, very close. Let’s be real. [Glen] Johnson is a 50-year-old man, he’s shot to bits. He was a bit of a punching bag. He might as well hang him up two feet and be a punching bag. Come on, look at him. He just walked forward, he didn’t throw no punches. There were rounds where he was throwing three to four punches. I would have made Johnson look stupid.”
It is kind of a sad that Groves was fighting a 43-year-old fighter that had to come out of retirement in order to fight him. Johnson had lost three out of his last four fights before Groves fought him, and it was already pretty much academic that Johnson was past it.
I don’t know what there was to be gained by fighting a guy like 43-year-old Johnson other than getting the scalp so that it would be on Groves’ resume. Groves should be fighting the Dirrell brothers right now instead of 43-year-old guys like Johnson. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Groves to fight the Dirrells, because I don’t see that fight happening. Those two are major talents of the first order and it wouldn’t be good for the mechanical Groves to fight them.
Is DeGale right about Groves not being able to capture a world title? Well, I can’t see Groves ever beating Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Andre Ward. However, those guys won’t be around forever, and Groves could wait them out until they retire and then move in to grab one of the straps. However, if that doesn’t happen soon, we may see some new talent that moves up in the division that Groves might not be able to handle.
Demetrius Andrade is already one young fighter that I see being able to beat Groves. The thing is will Groves, he’s 24, but he’s not much older than the Dirrell brothers, so I don’t know that he’ll necessarily be able to wait out the top champions right now, because the Dirrell brothers and Andrade will be right there to scoop up world honors once the top guys move on.
Comments are closed.