Undefeated George Groves staked his claim to the winner of tonight’s fight between Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler by destroying #11 WBC super middleweight contender Noe Gonzalez by an impressive 5th round TKO. Groves landed a booming right hand to knock Gonzalez out.
After the fight, Groves said he’d be open to facing the winner of the Froch-Kessler fight if possible. It’s more likely that Groves will be ignored by Froch if he wins tonight, but he could get Kessler if he comes out on top.
In describing his knockout, Groves said “It was something we’ve been working on in the gym. I was looking to speed up my right hand because when it lands it always causes problems. I saw Gonzalez open and thought this was my opportunity and it must have landed right on the button.”
Groves is ranked #2 by the WBA, so if Froch captures that belt tonight, Groves will be breathing down his neck to try and get that fight. However, he still won’t be ranked high enough to force Froch to take the fight, and that’s probably what it’ll require for Groves to get the Nottingham fighter in the ring because Froch is saying that Groves needs to fight two highly ranked contenders before he’ll be willing to fight him.
Froch doesn’t count tonight’s opponent Noe Gonzalez, #11 WBC. He wants Groves to fight one of the guys that he’s previously beaten. That’s easier said than done because it would probably be next to impossible for Groves to get a fight against the likes of past Froch opponents Lucian Bute, Arthur Abraham, Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward.
Those guys aren’t going to readily agree to fight Groves unless his promoter Eddie Hearn opens up his wallet and makes a huge offer to get one of those fighters over to the UK to fight Groves.