A Closer Look at George Groves Vs Chris Eubank, JR

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

The United Kingdom is looking forward to the boxing year of 2018.

There are some massive bouts being planned and we think we have the best of them in the world; mind you we often think that.

There are some cracking contests which ought to solve a few battles of pride and boasts but none more so than the super middleweight clash between the WBA champion, George Groves, 27-3, 20 KO’s and the IBO champion, Chris Eubank, JR., 26-1, 20 KO’s.
There are many who give Groves no chance against a much younger and fitter Eubank Jr. Junior’s hand speed and his pedigree are often listed as reasons as to why people believe that he will make sure he is a double world champion and then march onto the final of the World Boxing Super Series come May.

There are of course some who see the brash young upstart as perfect fodder for the wily old man who may have taken 4 attempts to get a world title but is a world champion in more than just name. Groves is a serious contender, not just for this fight but to continue his reign and cause some serious problems for whoever ends up in the other corner in the final of the World Boxing Super Series.

But before I become accused of being as deluded as the Groves’ camp claim that Eubank’s camp are, let’s just have a quick look at the pedigree of Mr Groves and what is likely to be across the ring from the family camp of Eubanks in February of this year because the Eubanks are quite clear about who he is…

At the latest press conference there was a very high level of disregard that Junior had for Groves telling him, “You’re an old man, you’re not the fighter you used to be. You are pretty average, you don’t have much speed, your defence is poor and your stamina is lacking. You can’t compete with me. I am too young, too fresh, too powerful, too quick and too good.” Really?

Groves does qualify by dint of this being a young man’s sport, as the elder statesman. He has been around for longer and his professional career has been more decorated and include bigger and better fights against better and bigger opponents than JR.’s.

Groves has already been involved in massive fights – his second fight against Carl Froch WAS the biggest fight in the modern era at Wembley before Messrs Klitschko and Joshua went into the same venue and smashed records. As for not being the fighter he used to be it could be argued that the caliber of opponent that Groves has faced and had to come through is way above the level of any of the people Eubank has faced.

This mileage on his clock has been cited as a negative as Groves has also gone through those two gruelling fights against Carl Froch, 33-2, 24 KO’s, and then one against Badou Jack, 22-1-2, 13 KO’s, as he struggled to find his place, a rhythm and a world title; he found all 3 when he took on Fedor Chudinov, 16-2, 11 KO’s for the WBA title.

Groves thinks that is therefore a bit of a mismatch, but about more than experience. Eubank, JR. has moved up from middleweight and may be flourishing at that level but again looking at who he has faced in his new division would not inspire a great deal of confidence. Many people think that the Eubank’s have captured the modern era of the media through a sound bite here and a social media piece of text there. There is a belief that there may be less in their armoury than the bluff and the bluster, however Groves v Eubank did sell out in 7 minutes and though that is no longer a record, it is still highly impressive; people want to see this fight because of that hype.

Then the age thing… Eubank, JR. is one year younger than Groves so he is hardly facing an old man. The Eubank’s point out too that Junior has only had 3 less contests than Groves so he also has experience on his side.
Groves sees weaknesses that he can exploit because he has that experience. Though they have fought almost as many opponents professionally as each other it is in the amateur ranks that Groves has a supremely better record. A junior title holder, an ABA title holder and having boxed for his country all over the world gives him a stature of which Eubank can only dream.

Groves is the number 1 seed for the World Boxing Super Series. He saw fellow Brits, Callum Smith, 23-0, 17 KO’s, and then Eubank, JR. progress against their opponents and all eyes turned to the all British clash between Groves and Jamie Cox, 24-1, 13 KO’s. I fancied Cox for an upset, but Groves proved me totally wrong and having seen Eubank destroy Avni Yildrim, 17-1, 11 KO’s, in the 3rd round Groves demolished a much better boxer and opponent in Jamie Cox in the 4th to show he was the right number 1 in this category.

Right now we are in the midst of a golden era for super middleweight boxing in Britain and the question that is being asked is, is it as good as it was when Eubank Senior was the man talked about more often than Eubank, JR.… James DeGale, 23-2-1, 14 KO’s, who has lost to Groves twice, as an amateur and as a professional screwed up the perfect plan when he lost his IBF title before Christmas to Caleb Truax, 29-3-2, 18 KO’s, but the fight goes on to prove that we have the best super middleweight fighters in the world. If DeGale can get his title back by May and then we can see which of the British boys in the World Boxing Super Series can win the title, we could have the biggest unification fights in super middleweight history on our hands with the eventual winner of the Super Series taking on the IBF champion. If DeGale had not royally screwed that up and now needed a rematch to get back in the mix, we could have bene looking at one of the tastiest years in the super middleweight division for decades in the UK. Oh James…

Now we have to wait and see if that rematch can happen. In the meantime we have a fantastic fight that will light everything up in February and I, for one, cannot wait.

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