George Groves finally did it. As the chief support to Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr today in Sheffield, Groves unleashed a huge barrage of punches that caused the referee to intervene in the sixth round of a pretty great little fight. He is now the WBA super middleweight titlist.
Fedor Chudinov (14-2, 10 KOs) came out of the gate with a tremendous amount of pressure. He pushed George Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) back very aggressively and it took the English fighter a few rounds to adjust. The first three rounds could have gone either way with Chudinov landing real clean shots and Groves firing back rapidly from the back foot.
Groves took over big in the fifth with a huge rally in the early parts of the round that may have hurt his Russian opponent. It at least temporarily froze him in place and allowed Groves to win the round pretty big, though he may have punched himself out a bit at the end.
The same thing happened in the sixth. Groves landed a few big right hands and Chudinov momentarily froze. This time, however, in his fourth world title opportunity, George Groves did not relent. He battered Chudinov repeatedly to the head with everything he had left. It was quite the extended sequence where Chudinov failed to really defend himself or throw anything back.
There might be some minor objections to the stoppage, but I have none. Chudinov was a sitting duck that was not fighting back.
George Groves is now a world titlist. Tyrone Zeuge, however, is not anymore as the WBA is stupid and this “super” title is now higher than Zeuge’s “regular” title. As I say every time, the WBA only gets one titlist per division. Sorry Tyrone.
