By Scott Gilfoid: #3 WBA contender George Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) is hoping to fight #1 WBA Fedor Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs) for the vacant WBA super middleweight title in March. The World Boxing Association is going to have Groves and the 29-year-old former WBA 168lb champion Chudinov fight for the recently vacated title.
The only question is when does the fight take place? Felix Sturm recently vacated the WBA title. He beat Chudinov by a controversial 12 round decision last February in Germany. I saw the fight and had Chudinov winning, but he did not look good at all in that contest. The hand speed or lack thereof was just missing with Chudinov. He made what should have been an easy fight into a very difficult one because of his slow hands.
We’ve seen Groves fail repeatedly on three attempts to win a world title in the past, but the WBA is putting him in a good position to finally become a champion by having him fight Chudinov rather than an arguably more talented contender like Anthony Dirrell or David Benavidez. If Groves can’t beat the slow-handed Chudinov, then it’s hard to know where he can go from there.
Groves is too big to melt down to 160, and I don’t think he’s got the chin or the boxing skills to move up to light heavyweight to compete with the likes of Adonis Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev, Sergey Kovalev or Andre Ward for world titles. Likewise, I think Groves loses to James DeGale, Badou Jack and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez at 168. Groves can probably beat Chudinov though and then WBA ‘regular’ 168lb champion Tyron Zeuge.
Those are easy marks in my view. However, you can never tell with Groves though. If he gets hit right by Chudinov, he might drop for the count. Chudinov has heavy hands, but he’s so incredibly slow. Groves will need to make sure he keeps moving because Chudinov will wear him down with his thudding punches over a 12 round fight.
Groves, 28, is hoping the Russian Chudinov will want to come to the UK to fight him in front of his British boxing fans. It remains to be seen whether Chudinov will go along the program. He just had a bad experience fighting in Germany against Sturm. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Chudinov wants no part of fighting Groves in in the UK in front of a big pro-Groves crowd.
Groves is coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision win over Eduard Gutknecht last November. The fight ended in tragedy with Gutknecht collapsing after the fight and needing surgery. It was a mostly one-sided affair due to Gutknecht’s lack of punching power. However, he did give Groves a lot of problems in the first four rounds when he was nailing him with shots.
Groves said this to skysports.com about his hopes for a fight against Chudinov in March:
“I am sure we will come to an agreement and I reckon we are looking at March,” said Groves. I like March. London and March work well for me. His people have already been in touch but of course, you are always waiting for the official news and the serious negotiations start once the WBA announces their decision formally.”
Groves has already fought for a world title on three occasions and lost all three times in two knockout losses to Carl Froch and a 12 round decision loss to Badou Jack. It’s weird how Groves continues to be ranked highly despite his many defeats. Usually fighters get dropped low in the rankings after they lose, but that hasn’t happened with Groves. He’s a special case. He’s remained ranked highly. It’s unclear how many loses it’s going to take for Groves before the sanctioning bodies drop.
Rather than Groves and Chudinov fighting for the WBA title, you have to wonder why the incredibly talented David Benavidez (16-0, 15 KOs) isn’t getting a title shot. Only 19-years-old, Benavidez is ranked #6 by the WBA. He’s a devastating puncher with both hands, and clearly the future for the super middleweight division. I’d much prefer seeing Benavidez fight for a world title than Groves or Chudinov.
I think the WBA has made the wrong decision in letting Groves and Chudinov fight for the belt. I think it should be Benavidez and Anthony Dirrell (29-1-1, 23 KOs). Those are fighters that I believe would KO both Groves and Chudinov. At least the WBA should have one of those guys fighting Groves or Chudinov for their WBA title. Dirrell has won his last two fights against Marco Antonio Barrera and Caleb Truax since losing his WBC title to Badou Jack by a 12 round majority decision in early 2015. I think Dirrell should be ranked above Groves, because his two wins were better than the four wins that Groves has accumulated since his loss to Badou Jack in 2015. Since that loss, Groves has beaten these guys: Andrea Di Luisa, David Brophy, Martin Murray and Gutknecht. There’s no real quality there in my view. At least with Dirrell, he beat some good fighters in Truax and Rubio.
“Chudinov has had a bit of a stop-start career,” Groves said about Chudinov. “Look at his record and he’s only had 15 fights but he has obviously been a world champion in that time.”