By Scott Gilfoid: #3 WBC George Groves (21-3, 16 KOs) says he’ll be looking to score a knockout over 33-year-old Italian opponent Andrea Di Luisa (18-3, 14 KOs) next month on January 30th at the Copper Box Arena, in London, UK.
Groves lost his last fight to WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack last September by a 12 round split decision in Las Vegas, Nevada. Depending on who you ask, it was either Groves’ fault or his former trainer Paddy Fitzgerald for Groves tasting defeat in that fight.
Some boxing fans blame Fitzgerald for him not lighting a fire under Groves’ backside in between rounds in the later rounds of the fight. To be sure, Fitzpatrick seemed pretty relaxed in the corner late in the fight when he should have been reading Groves the riot act to tell him how he needed to do more to try and win the rounds.
In fairness to Fitzpatrick, I think it wouldn’t have mattered if he did push Groves to fight harder in the last four rounds of the Badou fight. Groves looked exhausted by that point in the fight from all the hard body shots he’d been hit with by Badou.
I seriously doubt that Groves could have found a 5th gear to shift to by that point in the fight. Groves looked pretty maxed out to me and appeared to be fighting at maximum effort. The problem was Groves didn’t have the energy to even up the fight and get the win. He was red in the face and looked like he needed for the fight to be over so that he could sit down and rest.
“I expect to knock him out,” Groves said about Di Luisa.
Di Luisa is someone that Groves should be able to KO, because the guy has been stopped in the past by Lucian Bute, Christopher Rebrasse and Mouhamed Ali Ndiaye. If Groves can’t knock out Di Luisa, then that would be pretty sad. However, Groves might be better off letting the fight go the full 12 rounds so that he can work on his stamina, because Groves looked pretty tired to me in his loss to Badou.
Great to be training alongside @StGeorgeGroves. Welcome to the team @McGuigans_Gym pic.twitter.com/OQTZABJpB8
— Carl Frampton (@RealCFrampton) December 17, 2015
Fighting a mediocre opponent like Di Luisa is fine for Groves, but I do not see what the point is. It’s not as if he’s going to be improved any from the experience. Groves’ problems with taking hard head shots will still likely be there once he starts facing quality opposition again. Badou Jack had Groves on the canvas in the 1st round of their fight last September, and Badou isn’t a big puncher. If Badou had kept attacking Groves for the remainder of the fight like he did in the 1st round of their fight, I think Badou would have knocked Groves out. Groves was lucky in that respect.
Groves will be under pressure to face a bigger puncher in the second half of 2016. Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is talking about wanting to match several of his fighters – Martin Murray, James DeGale or Callum Smith – against Groves in 2016. Groves’ promoters at Sauerland Events could choose to make one of those fights. I think it would be bad for Groves if he were to face one of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those guys end up facing him in 2016.
Groves could be at the last chance saloon if he takes one of those fights or really any decent opponent in the near future. Groves has suffered too many defeats in a short period of time in his career, and I think that makes it difficult to recommend that he continue fighting if he loses another fight in the near future. Yeah, Groves can fight forever no matter how many times he loses. It’s up to him. I just think it would utterly stupid for him to do so if he keeps losing the way he’s been losing lately.
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