By Scott Gilfoid: Paddy Fitzgerald, the trainer for three-time super middleweight title challenger George Groves (21-3, 16 KOs), thinks that Groves needs to get a coach to help him with his mental and emotional baggage following his recent loss to WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (20-1-1, 12 KOs) on September 12th on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Andre Berto fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fitzgerald is ready to step aside for the 27-year-old Groves to get the help that he feels he needs. He’s open to Groves looking to get a different trainer if it will help him.

I’m not sure if it will or not, because Groves’ problems seem to be stamina and chin related rather than something technically that he’s doing wrong inside the ring. The only difference I can see from the Groves of 2015 and the one that defeated James DeGale in 2011, is that Groves doesn’t move as much now.

“Technically he has everything it takes. Physically he has everything it takes. Mentally and emotionally now I do believe he needs a coach to deal with some of the mental and emotional issues he’s had for the last two years,” Fitzpatrick said via skysports.com.

It sounds like Groves either needs Adam Booth or Teddy Atlas to train him. Those guys are good at the mental side of the game. I don’t know if Groves will go back to Booth though. Atlas might not go for the idea of training a fighter like Groves, who has a 2-3 record in his last five fights.

Atlas might not want to waste his time with a fighter with a record like that. But if Groves wanted a trainer that could clear out some of the mental baggage that he might have from his two losses to Carl Froch and his loss to Badou Jack, Atlas would be the man to get to the root of the problem. Atlas would give it to Groves straight though, and I’m not sure that Groves would be ready for someone as direct as Atlas.

Groves lost the fight to Badou by a 12 round split decision by the scores 115-112, 116-111 for Badou, and 114-113 for Groves. It was a winnable fight for Groves if he had the stamina to fight hard for more than six rounds. I don’t think that was the fault of Fitzpatrick that Groves ran out of gas after the 6th round. It definitely wasn’t Fitzpatrick’s fault that Groves was dropped in the 1st round. That was a chin problem that caused that.

“It’s me that’s saying this now but if George was to come back he would need, and I think it would be better, to be with a different trainer,” Fitzpatrick said.

I really don’t think it matters who winds up as Groves’ trainer. I think he’s going to continue to struggle into the future and get worse and worse as he starts getting older.

Groves has won two fights in the last two years in beating Chistopher Rebrasse and Denis Douglin. Those are B-level fighters who I see as 2nd tier guys. I knew Groves would be out of his element against Badou Jack, because he’s a legitimate 1st tier guy. He’s not a mediocre fighter like the guys that Groves has won most of his fights against.