By Stuart Smith: Having just come off a devastating 8th round knockout loss to Carl Froch on the weekend, many people will be wondering whether George Groves still has the potential to become a world champion in the Super Middleweight division. Groves came undone on Saturday after a wicked right hand from Froch knocked him out cold and forced the fight to be stopped. As a result many have questioned his ability at world level and some have even called for him to retire.
George Groves has certainly showed that he had the technical capabilities to mix it with Froch; who is an experienced and established world champion. At the age of 26, it will be a shock if he doesn’t go on to become world champion in my opinion. He completely out boxed an experienced Carl Froch in the first fight and definitely didn’t disgrace himself in the second fight apart from a mistake in the 8th round which consequently lost him the fight which I feel was down to his lack of experience and naivety.
Furthermore, George Groves was seen to have a weak chin before the Carl Froch fights, however in both fights he was hit consistently with heavy shots which he was able to take. It was only the thunderous right hand in the second fight which he couldn’t withstand. Although Groves was knocked out with this punch, I believe there is no one in the division who could have got up after that shot and therefore arguments which are questioning his chin are unjust.
It is important to remember that many boxers have learnt from knockout losses such as David Haye (Groves’ ex training partner) whose knockout loss to Carl Thompson in 2004 certainly did not define his career. Haye won 15 fights (13 by knockout) on the trot after that loss, unifying the cruiserweight division, picking up the WBA Heavyweight title and also becoming a pay per view star along the way. Haye shares many similarities as George Groves, with both fighters possessing one punch knockout power and frightening foot and hand speed. Haye was also questioned over a weak chin after his Thompson loss, however like Haye I believe that Groves will overcome this loss and go on to become an established world champion in the future.
I strongly feel that Groves will come back and win world titles in the Super Middleweight division sooner rather than later. I place him in the top 5 fighters in this division, in front of both Sakio Bika and Arthur Abraham who hold the WBC and WBO belts respectively. He has both the speed and power to cause these fighters a large amount of trouble. It is only Froch, Ward and Kessler that I believe Groves is behind at the moment due to his lack of experience which was his undoing on May 31st in his loss to Froch.
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