Midday East Coast time stateside, George Groves defends his WBA super middleweight title against rising attraction Chris Eubank Jr in England in the World Boxing Super Series semifinals. This is probably the most exciting fight on paper that the tournament could have given and it will arrive in just two days.
It hasn’t been easy for George Groves (27-3, 20 KOs) to become world titleholder, but that didn’t always look like it was going to be a case. The London native received a huge break in 2011 when he was matched in an all too rare unbeaten prospects fight with Olympic gold medalist James DeGale for the British super middleweight crown in only his thirteenth pro fight. Groves gave us a textbook example as to why those types of fights do not get made more often when he temporarily derailed the DeGale hype train that night by earning a decision win.
When he followed that win up by dismissing longtime top British domestic contender Paul Smith in two short rounds, it looked like Groves would be wearing a world title belt around his waist sooner rather than later.
It took two more years to find that title shot, but a round into his fight with elite super middleweight titleholder Carl Froch didn’t change anything in that narrative. Groves had the normally iron chinned top fighter down and in all sorts of trouble in the opening frame. He didn’t get the finish, however. While the challenger was still leading the fight after eight, Froch would famously rally back in the ninth round to hurt George Groves and steal the fight back when it was arguably stopped too soon. This bit of controversy was put to bed with George Grove’s consciousness in the rematch, however. There was no controversy the second time The Cobra stopped George Groves.
Now the narrative was different. Three fights later, it got worse. While George Groves fought very well in his third title opportunity against Badou Jack in Las Vegas, the fight was ultimately a toss up type decision in which either man could have been crowned the victor. Badou Jack had his hand raised by the narrowest of margins. Suddenly after having been seemingly destined to be wed to a belt for years, George Groves was boxing’s bridesmaid.
It took the fight before the start of the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament to finally get the three time failed title challenger his belt. After four wins in 2016, the WBA declared his fight with Fedor Chudinov to be for their super middleweight title. That highly entertaining fight from May began with both men finding success, but Groves showed his class over the Russian as the fight became a beating by round three or four. After six rounds Chudinov was saved from further abused and George Groves was finally a titlist. The London native made his first defense at Wembley against fellow Brit Jamie Cox in the first round of the tournament in October, stopping his less world level experienced foe after four hard fought rounds.
Chris Eubank Jr’s (26-1, 20 KOs) narrative is much more brief and to the point. The clearly athletic but extremely raw fighter was largely considered to be more flash than substance for the first few years of his career. Most of boxing’s pundits and fans seemed to consider the young Eubank simply a play to make money off his famous father’s last name. In truth, the first three years of his career showed little to dispel the idea either as he fought soft competition.
2014 brought his first big opportunity when he met well regarded Olympic prospect and emerging contender Billy Joe Saunders in a battle for both the British and European belts. For the first half of the fight or so, Eubank fought somewhat scared. He just wasn’t engaging much and Saunders was comfortably winning the rounds. The famous last name looked like he was on his way to confirming the notion that that was all he was, but a second half rally helped beat back that perception. It wasn’t enough to win, but Chris Eubank Jr showed that he had the talent to excel at a high level in the second half of that fight. I believe he would have won had he started faster.
That too late, but still noteworthy performance plus three straight stoppages of known domestic level opponents in Spike O’Sullivan, Nick Blackwell, and Tom Doran had flipped the script on many people’s perception of Chris Eubank Jr by the end of 2016, but it was his run last year the really started to cement the idea of Eubank as a real, world level fighter. First he routed longtime middleweight titleholder Arthur Abraham by decision in July to gain entrance into the World Boxing Super Series. Then he destroyed his unbeaten first round opponent Avni Yildirim in just three rounds in October.
At this point there is no question in my mind that Chris Eubank Jr is a world level talent. He inherited at least that much from his famous father. In fact, I’d argue that he is probably more talented than George Groves even. He is faster and I think he hits harder. The question then becomes in what way the titleholder’s wealth of experience at this level will impact the fight.
Certainly Groves is more battle tested, but is that necessarily a good thing? The fact that he is only one year older than Eubank Jr seems wrong given how long we have been paying attention to each of them at the highest levels of boxing. The London man is definitely more technical offensively, but he is defensively liable. That means he has also taken a lot of damage in all that experience. Add those things together and I am not so sure that Saint George will be able to stand up to Chris Eubank Jr’s fast hands over twelve rounds.
In my view if George Groves is going to win this fight, he is going to have to be dominant early. Doing so could give him the lead he needs to hold on down the stretch, or it even could potentially destroy Junior’s confidence and cause him to fold. We’ve never really seem him tested in the way that someone is in standing up to George Grove’s rather excellent offense. If Eubank Jr gets off to a fast start, however, I think he takes this.
Regardless, this seems likely to be a very good fight. Both men feature an excellent, dynamic offensive game. On top of that, Groves’ defense is leaky at times and his challenger’s has never been asked to hold up to this kind of offense. Billy Joe Saunders has proven himself an excellent fighter since his fight with Eubank, but he excels without bringing the kind of offensive force that George Groves plies his trade with so I don’t think Eubank’s fight with him is necessarily something we can draw a comparison from. While I am always intrigued by a matchup of top fighters on an intellectual level as I love the science of this sport, I full expect this one to appeal to the more guttural, blood and violence aspect of the sport as well. I wouldn’t miss it.
Ring walks are expected to begin around 5 PM Eastern time in the United States, but that could vary by quite a bit. ITV Box Office will have the fight on PPV in the UK. The World Boxing Super Series streamed the cruiserweight semifinals on Youtube stateside, so hopefully they will do the same here as we are still somehow without a television deal. The undercard here features a trio of British title fights as well as rising super middleweight prospect Zach Parker. It isn’t must see stuff, but it also isn’t an awful slate if you’re looking for even more to watch on a super busy Saturday.
