George Groves vs. Martin Murray preview and analysis

By Boxing News - 06/25/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBC George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) and Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) weighed in on Friday for their WBA super middleweight eliminator bout tonight at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Murray weighed in at 167 ¾ pounds. Groves came in at 167½lbs. These two fighters are the chief support for the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card.

Murray came in over the limit at the first attempt. He was able to take the weight off and make weight on the second weigh-in.

Groves has the power, size and youth advantage, but Murray is the superior guy with the stamina, experience and ring IQ. Groves wins if he can either KO Murray in the first six rounds before fatigue sets in or if he can win the majority of the rounds in the first half.

Groves should be able to nick one or two of the last six rounds. If that fails to happen, then Murray will win because Groves is pretty much just a six-round fighter. He’s got major stamina issues that I don’t see ever going away. Groves says he’s fixed his conditioning problems with the help of new trainer Shane McGuigan, but I don’t believe that to be so.

Groves has always had stamina problems, and he had a good trainer in the past in Adam Booth. It’s not as if Booth wasn’t training him hard too. Murray can win if he pushes a fast pace in the first half of the contest like WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack did last September in his 12 round decision win over Groves. Carl Froch pushed a fast pace in his first fight with Groves in 2013 and wound up stopping him in the 9th round.

Groves even gassed out in the rematch in 2014 despite the fight being fought at a close pace for eight rounds. Froch caught Groves with a right hand in the 8th and knocked him clean out.
This is pretty evenly matched fight between two guys that have failed repeatedly in their careers when fighting in world title fights. However, there’s a very good chance that one of them will be winning a world title in the near future.

The winner of the Groves-Murray fight will be the mandatory for WBA champion Giovanni De Carolis. This is a champion with limited skills that is very, very beatable on paper. Heck, I could see even the loser of the Groves vs. Murray fight beating De Carolis.

This is one of those can’t fail situations where the Groves-Murray winner can’t possibly mess this one up. The World Boxing Association is making it easy for Groves or Murray with De Carlos as their secondary champion. The WBA’s main champion Felix Sturm. They won’t be fighting him.

“I don’t think I’ve done myself justice quite yet in my boxing career,” said Groves to skysrports.com. “There have been flashes of what I’m really about. I’ve made a couple of mistakes, so tomorrow night I think you’ll see the very best of me.”

Groves might win tonight if he can fight the stamina to fight hard in the second half of the contest. I doubt that Groves will be able to KO Murray in the first six rounds when he’s still fresh. Murray will no doubt be looking to cover up and block Groves’ best shots when he’s at his strongest.

YouTube video

“Martin Murray is a really good fighter. People think I’m a really good fighter, but I want to show people I’m a great fighter,” said Groves.

There’s nothing wrong with Groves wanting to TRY and show that he’s a great fighter, but I don’t see him as being a very good fighter. Groves doesn’t have that kind of talent in my estimation. I mean, Groves can certainly strive for greatness, but he’s not going to prove that tonight against four-time world title challenger failure like Murray.

The only way Groves can prove he’s great is by beating all of the top super middleweights including guys like Gennady Golovkin from the middleweight division, light heavyweights Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson and Artur Beterbiev. Groves cannot prove greatness by beating an aging fighter like the 33-year-old Murray. He’s not at that level I’m afraid.

The reality is that if Groves ever did fight any of those above mentioned fighters, I think he would be knocked out by all of them. I do not see Groves being able to beat Kovalev, Beterbiev, Golovkin, or Stevenson. I also don’t see Groves beating Jack, Gilberto Ramirez, James DeGale or Callum Smith. Those guys are a level above Groves in my opinion, and I think they always will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0TSA_ybh2A

Honestly, I think Groves reached his zenith as a fighter around three to four years. I think Groves was a better fighter when he fought Froch the first time than he is now, and he was fatally flawed back then with stamina problems. But since the fight, Groves hasn’t looked anything like he once did. Further, he looks physically older now compared to 2013, and I don’t think he has the youth that he once had. Some fighters get older before their time. Groves only 28, but I think he’s now fighting sometime 10 years older than that at 38. I’m just saying. He looks like he’s older guy now, and I think his prime has left him in the rearview mirror. I see Groves as just as much an old timer as Murray.