Callum Smith wants Badou Jack vs. George Groves winner

By Boxing News - 07/08/2015 - Comments

smith1111By Scott Gilfoid: #3 WBC Callum Smith (17-0, 12 KOs) badly wants to fight the winner of the August 22nd fight between WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack and George Groves. Smith figures that Groves will wind up victorious in that fight and then might want to face him next rather than move forward to face other guys.

Groves has already talked about wanting to fight IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale in a unification fight if he beats Badou Jack.

Smith recently defeated Christopher Rebrasse last month by an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision. Smith struggled badly in the first six rounds with Rebrasse constantly taking the fight to him and battering him. Smith came back to score a knockdown in the 10th, before fading in the 11th and 12th rounds.
Smith is going to have to do some waiting around before he gets a shot at the winner of the Jack-Groves fight. But in the meantime, he’d like to face #7 WBC Rocky Fielding for the vacant British super middleweight title.

“If the fight was offered, I’d jump at it,” Smith said to Skysports.com about a fight against Fielding. “It’s a big fight for the city and there’s a lot of demand for it because we’ve both been winning and we’re both unbeaten. It’s a fight I’m 100 per cent confident I’d win.”

I don’t give Smith much chance of beating Fielding. Smith is too upright, too easy to hit, and too one dimensional. All he does is throw body shots 24/7 and get nailed. He needs to change his fighting style soon before he faces a quality super middleweight and gets battered. I don’t see Fielding as a top 10 contender at 168, but I do think he’s more than good enough to beat the likes of Callum Smith without any problems.

I doubt that their promoter Eddie Hearn will let Smith and Fielding fight each other. Hearn pretty much spelled it out after their fight last month that he wasn’t going to let them fight each other until there’s something big on the line like a world title.

“I think a good George Groves beats a good Badou Jack. It’ll be an interesting fight though and one I’ll be watching,” Smith said.

Jack will beat Groves. I have no doubts about that. Jack hits too hard, and he’s too good at putting pressure on his opponents. Groves will likely crumble under Jack’s pressure and fast pace offense. Jack is like another Ross Puritty with the way he pressures his opponents, and Groves won’t be able to handle that for 12 rounds without getting stopped. Once Jack wins the fight, he’s not going to fight Callum Smith. No way is that going to happen.

Jack will have two voluntary defenses in which he can fight whoever he wants. That means Smith likely won’t get a shot at his WBC title until 2016, or more likely early 2017 if he keeps winning. Hearn might as well allow Smith to fight Fielding because it’s not as if either of them are going to be getting a big fight for a world title anytime soon. They’re going to have to wait a while before they get their title shots. It might be a good long time before it happens for these guys.



Comments are closed.