Groves vs. Rebrasse: Will George’s chin hold up on September 20th?

By Boxing News - 09/07/2014 - Comments

groves555By Scott Gilfoid: #4 WBC George Groves (19-2, 15 KOs) has been knocked out in his last two fights against IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch and yet here Groves is fighting in a WBC 168 pound eliminator bout this month on September 20th against European super middleweight champion Christopher Rebrasse (22-2-3, 6 KOs) at Wembley Arena in London, UK.

Ignoring for a second the oddity of someone fighting in an eliminator bout after coming off of two straight knockout losses, what I’m wondering is whether Groves’ chin will hold up against Rebrasse for a full 12 rounds without betraying him once again.

Getting knocked out once isn’t a big deal, but when the KOs comes back to back, then you’ve got to suspect that there might be a problem here with Groves’ punch resistance. I know Rebrassed isn’t a puncher, but it might not matter. He could simply tap Groves with a halfway decent shot and have him staggering around the ring or worse with him flat on his back with one leg folded underneath him like an accordion.

Groves really wants to get a crack at newly crowned WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell, because it would be Groves’ third shot at a world title. I know the ‘third times a charm,’ but I’m not sure Groves is even going to be able to get a third title shot at this point.

Rebrasse has got to know that he’s got a decent chance of knocking Groves clean out if he sits down on his punch. When you’ve got a weak puncher, they can load up on their shots with everything they have and generate respectable KO power when they feel they’ve got a guy in front of them with a chin problem.

I know Groves wants the title shot against Dirrell, but there some general concerns that fans have about Groves’ ability to take a shot. I mean, those two fights against Froch were tough ones with Groves taking some hard head shots, and sometimes a fighter loses his punch resistance after they get knocked out. I’m just saying.

It would be a pity if Groves gets knocked out by the light hitting Rebrasse, but can I see it happening? Definitely. I think it’s a real possibility unless Groves can get to Rebrasse before he gets a chance to load up on one of his shots.

The thing with Groves is once he gets hurt, he doesn’t seem to recover very well, does he? Groves was staggering in his first fight with Froch last year and the referee had to jump on him to save him from being obliterated by Froch. And then in their rematch last May, Froch knocked Groves clean out with a right hand. There was no getting up from that shot.



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