Before last night’s upset Stateside, there was one fighter who had been keeping a careful eye on proceedings between Anthony Dirrell (27-1-1, 22ko) and Badou Jack(19-1-1,12ko) and that was Britain’s “St.” George Groves, mandatory challenger to the WBC 168lb strap.
Groves (21-2,16ko) had originally stepped aside to let Dirrell make a voluntary defence of the belt, a move that backfired on the Michigan fighter spectacularly when he dropped a MD to “The Money Team” fighter by scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.
Cancer survivor Dirrell was deemed by many to be the trickier, more awkward opponent for Groves, yet looked completely out of sorts last night against the Swede, tiring badly towards the end of the fight as Jack gradually amped up the pressure.
It’s now the Vegas-based Swede who the Brit will fight next, and after last night’s showing, it’s fair to say that Groves might fancy the task all the more.
Despite a good, persistent performance last night in what was Jack’s 3rd win since being knocked out by Derek Edwards 14 months ago, he has always looked rather limited in my eyes.
Not so long ago, before that Edwards loss, it appeared he was on a collision course with Britain’s James DeGale, who referred to him as a “doughnut boy” in an iFL tv interview. DeGale, (who soon fights Andre Dirrell for the vacant IBF title) is another fighter with the awkwardness, movement and power to hurt a fighter like Jack badly.
He was persistent last night, I will give him that, and it won him the fight. I’m not sure it would be enough against the likes of DeGale and Groves mind you.
On his day, I’m convinced that Groves will beat Badou Jack convincingly. Yet one has to ask how much the two knockout losses to Carl Froch will have affected him? Disputed stoppage in the first fight or not, the second KO to Froch was heavy and in his recent fights against Christopher Rebrasse and Dennis Douglin, Groves hasn’t looked the fighter he was 2 years ago.
It would seem however that many Brits on social media are daring to dream already. Should James DeGale beat Andre Dirrell on May 23rd for the IBF belt and if Groves can dethrone Jack later this year, come the winter, a massive unification fight, (a rematch of their 2011 meeting) could well be on the cards.
It would be an absolutely massive fight in the UK and one many Brits will be keeping their fingers crossed transpires. In my opinion, DeGale has the tougher task against Dirrell, and their clash of classy southpaws is set to be a stylisticall intriguing match up. Yet I believe the Brit has the quality to win it.
As for Groves, this fight with Badou Jack is arguably the better fight for him than Anthony Dirrell would have been. Even with the momentum being with the new WBC champion, it wasn’t a “great” performance last night in my eyes, just a “good” one.
Much of the quality in the upper echelons of the super–middleweight division is British, with Froch, Groves, DeGale and young prospect Callum Smith (15-0,11ko) all making noise.
With a returning P4P king in America’s Andre Ward, the future of the division is looking very bright indeed.
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