By Patrick McHugh: In a battle for struggling 168lb contenders, #2 WBC George groves (24-3, 18 KOs) defeated former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-4-1, 16 KOs) by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in their WBA super middleweight title eliminator bout at the O2 Arena in London, England.
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.
By Scott Gilfoid: Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) thinks George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) is little more than a quitter after saying that he quit on the second day of sparring with middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in the past. The sparring sessions between Golovkin and Groves took place years ago, and it’s unclear what actually took place.
Murray says Groves gave up and left camp after the second day of sparring with the Kazakhstan fighter. Groves says he did well in his second sparring session with Golovkin. Besides the sparring story, Murray thinks Groves has an ego problem and he sees him as someone that not only feels he’s superior as a fighter, but superior in general.
Groves and Murray will be fighting this Saturday night in a WBA super middleweight eliminator bout at the O2 Arena in London, UK. The winner of the Groves-Murray fight will be the WBA mandatory to 168lb champion Giovanni De Carolis (24-6, 12 KOs).
By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) feels more stronger now than he has in the past, and he’s feeling more motivated now than he has in a while. Groves, 28, will be fighting in a WBA super middleweight eliminator bout against former four-time world title challenger Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card this Saturday night on 6/25 at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
Groves feels like he’s a new man with the help of trainer Shane McGuigan. Whether this is something that’s just in his mind or not is unclear. It’s generally believed that Groves was at his best when he was with trainer Adam Booth. Ever since he parted ways with him, Groves hasn’t looked nearly the same.
By Scott Gilfoid: #2 WBC, #4 WBA George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) and #10 WBC Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) will be fighting in a WBA super middleweight title eliminator this Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, UK. The winner of the Groves-Murray fight will be the mandatory challenger of WBA World super middleweight champion Giovanni De Carolis. That’s kind of a scary thought because neither of these guys has done much to deserve a title shot so quickly after they were beaten in failed world title shots.
Groves’ history of gassing out in his fights is quite evident. He’s a good six-round fighter, but after that point, he fades and implodes. Groves says he’s fixed his stamina issues with the help of trainer Shane McGuigan, and he feels that Murray shouldn’t count on him fading late in this fight.
“I’m looking to steal the show,” said Groves to Sky Sports about his fight against Murray on Saturday on the Joshua vs. Breazeale card. “Neither of us can afford to lose. I don’t plan on ever losing again. I’m looking forward to showing all the improvements I’ve made on June 25.”
By Scott Gilfoid: Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch chimed in with some of his thoughts about George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) after watching him and Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) in the Gloves are Off. Froch wants to see if Groves’ old confidence was there from his two fights with him in the past.
Froch two knockout wins over Groves seems to have knocked the confidence right out of him unfortunately. However, Froch says he spotted some of the old confidence returning in Groves during the ‘Gloves are Off’ special.
Froch came away from watching the special thinking that Groves feels he’s superior to Murray, and he believes he’s going to win. The two fighters will be facing each other next Saturday night on June 25 on the undercard of the Dominic Breazeale vs. Anthony Joshua card at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves and Martin Murray will be stepping into the last chance saloon on June 25, when the two of them battle it out in a WBA super middleweight title eliminator at O2 Arena in London, England. The fact that the promoters for these two fighters were lucky enough to have the World Boxing Association make this a 168lb title eliminator doesn’t erase the fact that these are two BADLY struggling fighters right now.
Even the winner of the Groves-Murray fight is going to have a tough time keeping their careers afloat for long as viable contenders. However, it was smart of #2 WBC, #3 WBO, #4 WBA, #10 IBF Groves and #10 WBC Murray to target the two WBA titles at 168, because those are were the easy marks are at in terms of the champions.
By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) is a three-time loser when challenging for world titles. He’s going to be facing four-time world title failure Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) this month on June 25 in a battle on Sky Box Office pay-per-view at the O2 Arena in London, UK.
According to the 28-year-old Groves, this could be the end of the line for the 33-year-old Murray if he loses this fight. Groves points out that Murray is an older fighter, and that he’s tried everything he can to try and win world titles in four attempts and he’s failed to win.
By Scott Gilfoid: #10 WBC Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) says he’s picked up loads of confidence from his title shot against WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last year. Murray, 33, was stopped in the 11th round after getting trapped against the ropes by Golovkin and literally pummeled until the referee had to step in and halt the fight. It’s hard to understand how Murray got more confidence from his loss to Golovkin because he looked utterly poor in that fight. It was one of those Custer’s last stand type of routs for Murray. He was getting bludgeoned by Golovkin and on the retreat constantly until he was stopped in round 11.
Murray says he’s going to take the confidence from the Golovkin fight into his WBC 168lb eliminator bout against three-time world title challenger George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) on June 25 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Groves-Murray is the co-feature bout on the Anthony Joshua vs. Dominic Breazeale card on Sky Box Office PPV.
By Scott Gilfoid: Martin Murray (33-3-1, 16 KOs) wants to take #2 WBC 168 contender George Groves (23-3, 18 KOs) into the deeper waters and drown him in their fight this month on June 25 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Groves has the superior punching power, and is at his most dangerous early in his fights.
#10 WBC Murray is mindful of Groves’ power early on, which is why he’ll surely be looking to take him into the later rounds so that he can tire him out and score a knockout. Groves was stopped twice by Carl Froch in the past after he took him past the seventh round. Groves also looked faded in his fight last year against Badou Jack when he took him into the later rounds.