By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBC George Groves (20-2, 15 KOs) will be putting his mandatory title shot against World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell on the line next month when he faces Denis Douglin (17-3, 10 KOs) on 11/22 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK.
Groves is taking a considerable risk in taking the fight, even though Douglin isn’t considered to be a 1st tier fighter. It’s still a considerable risk for Groves, because in his last fight against Christopher Rebrasse last September, Groves fought poorly and looked to have lost something from his game.
Groves was knocked out in consecutive fights by IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch, and those defeats may have taken something out of Groves. At this point even a guy like Douglin should be considered a dangerous fight for Groves. Douglin has better power than Rebrasse, and Groves was hurt by Rebrasse at point in the fight.
“If I lose, I lose my mandatory slot, so there is a lot on the line,” Groves said to Skysports.com. “But we are confident that this is the right move.”
Well, normally you think it would be a bad thing for a fighter like Groves to take a risky fight, because if something were to go wrong for him, he would lose out on a guaranteed title shot. However, with the WBC giving Groves an easy chance to lock himself in for a title shot against Dirrell, I don’t see it as a problem if Groves loses to Douglin. I mean, if Groves loses the fight, it’ll be his third defeat in his last four fights. But Groves has a good promoter in Sauerland, and I can see him getting another quick title shot against one of the champions.
Of course, it’s going to look very funny with Groves getting all these opportunities given all these defeats he’s been racking up, but that’s the way boxing is. If you’ve got a good promoter, then they can help you get opportunities that other fighters don’t get even if they have more talent.
Dirrell will be defending his WBC Silver super middleweight title against Douglin.
Groves wants to beat Douglin, and then try and get his title shot against Dirrell negotiated. Groves is hoping that he can get Dirrell to come to the UK to fight him. The only way that happens is if Sauerland wins a purse bid that would basically leave Dirrell with no options but to fight Groves in the UK.
“If we can’t agree terms with Dirrell’s people, we’ve got a purse bid situation in December so that’s going to take place in Vegas,” said Groves to Skysports.com. “We are going to head out there, try to win the bid and bring the fight to London. The fight then has to take place within 90 days. Hopefully if all goes to plan, we’ll be challenging for a world title on British soil around February, March, April time.”
Not surprisingly, Dirrell doesn’t want to fight Groves in the UK due to what happened to Dirrell’s brother Andre Dirrell when he fought Froch in the UK in 2009. Andre got the better of Froch in the minds of many boxing fans, but Froch still won the fight.
There was never a rematch between them despite Andre wanting one. But Anthony Dirrell probably doesn’t need to worry too much about fighting Groves in the UK, because the judges will likely play no part in the fight. Dirrell, with his power and excellent stamina, will have a good chance of knocking Groves out in 6 or 7 rounds.
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