By Scott Gilfoid: Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin says he watched #3 WBC super middleweight contender George Groves’ recent defeat at the hands of WBC 168lb champion Badou Jack, and he feels that Groves lacks punching power. He needs to improve in that area, Golovkin says. He still feels that Groves (21-3, 16 KOs) can win a world title in the super middleweight division, but that he needs some punching power to make him a better fighter.
Groves and Golovkin sparred with each other in the past, and Golovkin says he hurt Groves to the body and he believes he broke a rib during the sparring session. Golovkin denied the rumors that Groves knocked him down during the sparring session. Golovkin says it was very easy spar because Groves was slow and lacked power.
Groves is coming off of a 12 round split decision loss to Badou in his last fight in September. Groves will be facing Andrea Di Luisa (18-3, 14 KOs) this Saturday night in a 10 round fight at the Copper Box Arena in London, UK.
“I don’t feel he’s strong, or has a lot of power, but he’s a good boxer, has good distance, good balance, good combinations. I like his style,” Golovkin said to skysports.com. “I remember George’s last fight; he needed more power, more activity, more aggression. He’s very smart, he’s too smart to fight.”
So there it is. Groves lacks punching power and is too smart to fight. I’m not sure what Golovkin is going in that direction. Maybe he’s saying that Groves should be in another line of work? If that’s the case, I agree. Groves has good punching power, but his power obviously isn’t enough for him to dominate the guys that needs to dominate. If Groves had more punching power, he would have done a number on Badou.
Groves’ shots didn’t do anything to Badou. Heck, even Christopher Rebasse went the full distance with Groves in their fight in September 2014. Groves, 27, has a lot of knockouts on his resume, but those knockouts came against largely weaker opponents. I don’t see anyone that you can call a good fighter on Groves’ resume that he knocked out in the past.
“I did a couple of times [punching the] body, I broke [his] ribs I think, just I punched him, and his corner just said ‘Okay, it’s finished, stop,’” Golovkin said. “For me, it was a very easy spar, very easy… maybe he had a lot of weight, because he was too slow for me.”
.@StGeorgeGroves is ready and looking sharp ahead of his return this Saturday! #GrovesDiLuisa #TeamSaintGG pic.twitter.com/qNWbkC85C8
— Exigo-UK (@ExigoUK) January 26, 2016
Boy, Golovkin is really letting Groves have it, didn’t he? So basically Golovkin is saying that Groves is slow and weak, and that he needs more punching power. I think that’s the gist of it. Where in the heck is the 27-year-old Groves going to find some punching power? It’s not as if he can go to the corner supermarket and purchase some power. I mean, you are born with power more or less.
At 27, Groves would seem to be about as powerful as he’ll ever be in terms of punching power. I don’t know of any fighters that became better punchers after the age of 27. They were pretty much already powerful. If you look at big KO artists like Julian Jackson, John “The Beast” Mugabi, Deontay Wilder and Kostya Tszyu, they were all big punchers by the time they were 27.
I can’t imagine that Groves is going to become a better puncher all of a sudden. It’s definitely true what Golovkin says about Groves needing more punching power to make fights against guys like Badou easier, but how to get that power is my question.
Maybe Groves should think about switching out trainer Shane McGuigan for Abel Sanchez, the trainer for Golovkin. Sanchez has seen enough of Golovkin to know how to bring more out in Groves. If Groves can hang out with Golovkin, then maybe he’ll be able to pick up some of his power through osmosis. I mean, I don’t see it happening, but Groves has got to try something because clearly his situation is dire with his career in my view. Groves has lost three out of his last five fights and if that’s not a sign to push the panic button with his career then I don’t know what is.
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