Badou Jack says he’s fighting Groves on Mayweather undercard on September 12th

By Boxing News - 06/15/2015 - Comments

1-EW5G6378By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (19-1-1, 12 KOs) says he’ll be making his first defense of his WBC title on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next fight on September 12th against #1 WBC George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jack, 31, expects to have little problems successfully defending his title by beating Groves. Jack isn’t saying how he’ll dispatch the 27-year-old Groves, but you have to assume that he’ll do it by knockout.

Groves has already proven to have a shaky chin in his two fights against Carl Froch, both of which he lost by knockout, and in his fight against Kenny Anderson. Groves was hurt in all three fights.

“I think it’s going to be in September on Floyd’s undercard against George Groves,” Badou Jack said to Fighthype.com. “I think I’m an overall better fighter than he [Groves] is. I believe in myself and in my skill set. I believe I’m going to beat him.”

Well, if Jack puts the kind of pressure on Groves that he did on his last opponent Anthony Dirrell, then I have no doubts at all in my mind that Jack is going to score a knockout in this fight. Groves melted quickly against Froch in their first fight when he kept applying pressure and eventually it proved to be too much for Groves to handle.

In their second fight last year in May, Groves ran from Froch for the first seven rounds. When he finally tried to punch with him in the 8th, Froch knocked him out immediately. I don’t’ think Groves will run from Jack because he might be under the impression that he’s a lesser fighter than Froch, and he could assume that because Jack was knocked out by Derek Edwards in the past, it means he’ll fold against him as well.

If Groves does choose to trade with Jack, I see Groves getting knocked out in four rounds. But even if Groves runs from Jack, he’s still going to be trapped against the ropes and forced into a war that he’s not really equipped for. Jack is the sturdier fighter and the guy that is built for slugging it out. Groves is more of a short 1-3 round fighter who can slug for a few rounds, but who then wears down and gets knocked out when facing punchers.

Groves wants to beat Jack so that he can move forward to face IBF champion James DeGale in a unification fight. I don’t see that happening. Jack is going to end that dream by getting the win over Groves.



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