Eubank JR might’ve had concussion going into the first Smith fight
George Groves was speaking to Neueonlinecasinos.io on how he saw the first fight go between Eubank Jr & Smith, Groves said:
“I definitely don’t think it was the best Eubank. Eubank didn’t look quite like himself. The resistance evaporated. He has to figure out why that happened, put his finger on it and make sure it doesn’t happen next time. There’s an array of reasons why you can be flat on fight night and your punch resistance might not be there or your punch output or power aren’t right. He might have got camp wrong or picked up a slight virus in the build up, or misjudged the weight making. He might have got the weight down too early and been too lean. He might’ve taken a knock in sparring, which Smith was kind of hinting at in the press conference when they announced the second fight. Maybe he went into the fight with some sort of concussion.”
Smith should be confident getting another win over Eubank JR
When asked if losing the first bout leave scars on Eubank Jr, Groves replied;
“Yeah potentially. I thought Eubank would go in a different direction. I know he had the rematch and I know there would probably be a decent amount of money in it for him and it would’ve had to be on pay-per-view so it’s back on Sky Box Office so it has to get promoted right for that. Smith should be confident. What you see is what you get with him, he’s not going to reinvent the wheel at this stage. He can change and adapt subtly but I’m not sure he’ll need to do too much differently.”
It’s a must win fight for Eubank JR
Speaking on the importance of the rematch for Eubank Jr, Groves said;
“I saw Eubank recently and he said he flying to Vegas and he said he was going to train out there so I don’t know if he’s bringing in Jones, who’s usually based in Florida or someone else who’s based in Vegas or whether he just wants to get out of the UK for this camp. But it’s an absolute must win fight for him regardless.”
Prime Tyson Fury would beat prime David Haye
Responding to Tony Bellew’s comments that peak Haye would beat peak Tyson Fury. Groves said;
“I was in David Haye’s gym at the time when that fight was made. That fight was made several times but Haye had to pull out once with a cut in the week of the fight. And at that point, if Haye was on form I’d have picked him to win that fight. Hayes would be giving away a lot of natural size but he’s got those lightning fast hands and could definitely whack. I wouldn’t pick a prime David Haye over a prime Tyson Fury purely because of the size difference and he would be too smart.”
If Eubank JR wants to win he can’t fight like trainer Roy Jones JR
Speaking on what Eubank Jr needs to change to beat Smith, Groves said;
“You don’t want to try and fight like Roy Jones Jr, when essentially you just want to sit in the pocket and let your hands go. If I’m working with Eubank now then I’d be saying ‘sink your feet into the floor, sit in range, don’t take any shots but don’t try to be clever and box off the back foot’. Because Liam Smith he is cool under pressure and fights with a high guard and has a go to chin. So you want to break him up downstairs with body shots and then impose your will on him in the second half of the fight. If Eubank Jr’s punch resistance is catching up with him as the years have gone on or something else has gone on, either way he needs to address it somehow.”