(Photo credit: Idris Erba) By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) is only five days away from challenging WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (19-1-1, 12 KOs) on Showtime pay-per-view on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Groves, 27, thinks he’s going to dominate and stop Jack in this fight to take his WBC strap, and then move forward to fight bigger fights like James DeGale, Martin Murray, Callum Smith, Rocky Fielding and Frank Buglioni [if he wins the WBA 168lb title over Fedor Chudinov].
Those aren’t big fights for people in the United States or elsewhere around the world, but for the UK, those would be big fights because all of those guys are Brits. It would be for domestic consumption only, and it wouldn’t prove whether Groves is any good or not, because he won’t be facing the talented guys like Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Anthony Dirrell.
“I’m going to go in there and perform,” Groves said to Behind the Gloves about his fight against Badou Jack next Saturday. “I want to announce myself as the best in the division. I’ll be willing to take on anyone in the division. He’s [Badou Jack] going to want to put on a statement. I think he’s going to struggle to do that. I don’t think he’s going to get a knockout,” Groves said.
Let’s be real here; if Groves goes out there looking for a KO against Badou Jack this Saturday night, he’s going to leave himself open for one of Jack’s big right hands and he’s going to get hurt. Badou Jack is a much different fighter than the guys that Groves has been feasting on in his last two fights against Denis Douglin and Christopher Rebrasse.
Jack hits much harder, throws combinations, and puts heavy pressure on his opponents. Groves didn’t have to face that in those fights. He was able to pick his spots to land one-way traffic without worry of getting hit back with anything substantial. But things are going to be much different now that he’s facing Badou Jack this Saturday. Groves is going to be dealing with pressure that he hasn’t seen since his back to back knockout losses to Carl Froch.
I’m not saying that Badou Jack hits as hard as Froch, but he hits with power that is close enough to his to do a job on Groves. What makes Badou better than Froch in many ways is his ability to pressure and throw combinations.
Froch never moves as well as Badou does, he wasn’t a combination puncher like him. Yeah, Froch would throw combinations if one of his opponents was stupid enough to back up against the ropes and just cover up there like we saw from Lucian Bute three years ago in their fight in 2012. But with Badou, he’s capable of throwing combinations in the center of the ring, and that makes him lethal.
“I think the more he lets his hands go the more he leaves openings for me to take advantage of to knock him out,” Groves said. “We’ll soon seen what Badou Jack is all about on fight night, but I guarantee that he’s not been in with anyone as good as me. He hasn’t had to face a test as tough as me.”
I have to respectfully disagree with the 27-year-old Groves about him saying that Badou hasn’t faced a test as tough as him. The really is he already has faced someone as tough as him when he beat the talented Anthony Dirrell in his last fight in April, and Badou won that fight.
In looking at how incredibly talented Anthony Dirrell looked in yesterday in his win over Marco Antonio Rubio in their fight televised by Premier Boxing Champions on CBS, I have greater appreciation for Badou’s ability. For him to have been able to beat someone as good as Dirrell, it shows you want an incredible fighter he is. I mean, if Badou was good enough to beat Dirrell, then he’ll have zero problems doing a job on Groves, because I don’t see him as being even in the same solar system as Dirrell when it comes to talent.
“We are fully equipped and fully capable and ready of taking Badou Jack,” Groves said. “He’s currently WBC champion, but not for too much longer, because once he fights me on September 12th, I’m going to take him out. It’s going to be the best fight you’re ever going to see on Showtime pay-per-view,” Groves said.
The good thing about this fight is we’re going to see a knockout either way, which means we won’t see any controversy like there was in last Sunday’s fights between WBC “regular” bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell and Tomoki Kameda. If Dirrell wins, it will be likely by knockout, and the same goes for Groves. We won’t have the judges messing up the outcome of the fight by giving it to a fighter who the boxing fans felt lost the fight like we saw with the McDonnell-Kameda fight. That’s the beauty of it.
The judges will be there sitting around and watching the action like us, but they likely won’t have any say so in the outcome. Yeah, we’ll get to see who they had in front afterwards, but I don’t see them having any say so in who wins. I predict Badou will stop Groves by a devastating knockout that will have Groves on the canvas face down with one leg twisted beneath him like a pretzel. I think Groves will be out cold for the night like he was in his last fight against Froch in May 2014. Badou will have his arm raised in victory and will be carried about the ring on the shoulders of his trainer as the victor.
A win over Groves will open up some big fights for Badou against the Dirrell brothers and Andre Ward. Those are some great fights for boxing fans to see, and it’ll help make Badou a star, especially if Floyd Mayweather Jr. comes back in 2016, and he puts Badou on his undercard again like he is this Saturday in his fight against Andre Berto.
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