By Scott Gilfoid: Despite having been knocked out 2 times in his last 4 fights, Britain’s George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) expressed extreme confidence earlier today in his media conference call with WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (19-1-1, 12 KOs) in hyping their fight in less than two weeks on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight will be televised on Showtime pay-per-view for those boxing fans interested in seeing it, along with the main event between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Andre Berto.
Just like in the run up to his two fights against Carl Froch, which Groves lost by knockout, he expressed undying confidence in his own ability. Say what you want about Groves’ sometimes fragile chin and questionable stamina, he’s not short on self-confidence. He can build himself up like the best of them. The problem is when Groves has to actually prove it in the ring, he’s come up short in the past and been knocked out when he’s fought at the highest rungs of the super middleweight division. As such, you kind of have to tune out what Groves says about himself and focus more on waiting and seeing what he’ll actually produce when he gets out there on September 12th. I mean, based on what Groves has done in the past, I can’t see him beating anyone good, least of all a talent like Badou Jack.
“I haven’t had to justify ‘I got caught cold’ or ‘it was a lucky punch’ whatever,” Groves said. “I’ve faced it. Dealt with it head-on, addressed it, corrected it. This isn’t a 50/50 fight. This is a one-sided fight. I don’t need to trash talk to build false confidence. I am confident. I know what I’m capable of. I’m confident in my abilities because of that. I look forward to being in a fight. Yeah, sure, Badou Jack concentrates on defense, but his defense isn’t impenetrable because he’s been knocked out and he still gets caught a lot…we’re very excited about the fight and can’t wait to get in there and get the job done.”
I’m sorry, Groves, but this is a 50-50 fight whether you want to admit it or not. Jack isn’t the best fighter in the super middleweight division, to be sure, but neither are you. This is definitely a fight that go either way.
Groves can say it’s going to be a one-sided fight when he’s facing guys like Christopher Rebrasse and Denis Douglin, but he definitely can’t say that about a fight against a talent like Badou Jack. Heck, even the Groves-Rebrasse and Groves-Douglin fights weren’t one-sided affairs. Those were competitive matches with Groves taking some big shots and getting his bell rung a couple of times. If those guys were able to hurt Groves, then you can only imagine what Jack will do to him as well.
“I think I’m a smarter fighter than George Groves. The aim of the game is to hit and not get hit. It’s a 50/50 fight…the fight I that I lost was more like bad luck,” Jack said. “I got caught with a good shot, a lucky punch, whatever you want to call it in the first round when I was cold. I threw a lazy jab and – things happen. I called my old trainer Lou Del Valle, former world champion, that’s a very good defense trainer…I added him to my team. Him and Eddie Mustafa are doing a very good job and I’m just believing in myself. I know that was just some bad luck. Things happen in boxing. You can never overlook an opponent and one shot can end the night. But I bounced back well. I’m strong mentally. I don’t need to need to talk all that trash and stuff to build confidence. I don’t do that.”
Jaime McDonnell vs. Tomoki Kameda this Sunday on PBC
WBA World bantamweight champion Jaime McDonnell (26-2-1, 12 KOs) will be facing #4 WBA Tomoki Kameda (31-1, 19 KOs) in a rematch this Sunday, September 6th on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS from the American Bank Center, in Corpus Christi, Texas. The undercard has a much more interesting fight in my view between former WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell and former world title challenger Marco Antonio Rubio in a 10 round affair. Also on the card is super featherweights Daiki Kameda and Victor Ruiz going at it.
McDonnell expects to get a knockout in this fight. He wants to stop Kameda and then move forward to face WBA “regular” super bantamweight champion Scott Quigg in a British clash. I wonder how the top 15 contenders the WBA has ranked will feel about being passed over by McDonnell to get a world title shot against Quigg. It seems to me if McDonnell can barely beat a fighter like Kameda, and then he surely doesn’t belong in the same ring with a bigger and stronger fighter like Quigg. It makes no sense for McDonnell to get greedy in moving up in weight if he’s barely beating Kamedia.
“This is a massive fight and one I really wanted before looking at that move up to Super Bantamweight,” said McDonnell. “The plan is to beat him again and then move up and I’d love the Scott Quigg fight; that would be a massive night. I’ve already proved that I belong at the elite level and it’s only four pounds, it’s not a massive difference and I am a big Bantamweight. I feel I am hitting harder, I’ve been working on my power in the gym and I feel it’s going to pay off.”
I don’t about McDonnell and his belief about his punching power. I didn’t see any power from McDonnell against Kameda last time. I did see McDonnell getting hurt by Kameda’s superior power, but I didn’t see anything from McDonnell that would suggest that he’d be able to worry a big puncher like Quigg.
I think it would be better for the boxing fans as a whole if McDonnell would move up to 122, and actually prove himself in the division first by trying to beat the likes of Nonito Donaire before he’s given a world title shot on a silver platter.
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