Sometimes losing pays off for certain fighters. That was never more the case with George Groves (19-2, 15 KOs), who will be fighting in the WBC’s super middleweight title eliminator tonight against #3 WBC Christopher Rebrasse (22-2-3, 6 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Groves is coming off of two knockout losses in a row to Carl Froch.
The WBC doesn’t care that Groves has lost his last two fights. They feel that he fought well enough to rank above the likes of Sakio Bika and a number of other quality fighters in the top 15 rankings.
If Groves beats the 28-year-old Rebrasse tonight then he’ll be facing WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell for his WBC title in either December or early 2015. Rebrasse will be looking to beat Groves tonight and wreck his plans for a world title shot.
“We’ve got the money, we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the fans, we’ve got the market,” Groves’ promoter Kalle Sauerland said. “We’re ready for Dirrell.”
Hopefully Groves doesn’t have his mind on Dirrell too much tonight rather than the task at hand against Rebrasse since this is a fight that could very well turn in Rebrasse’s favor if he can take the stamina plagued Groves deep into the fight. Groves faded in his loss to Froch in their first fight, and he was knocked out in their 2nd fight in 7 rounds. Groves has also looked tired in a number of his other previous fights once the fight has gone past the 6th round. Groves is good for around 5 rounds, but after that he definitely loses power and starts to get sloppy.
“He [Groves] is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet,” Sauerland said.
Groves is exciting. You never know what’s going to happen with the guy because of his chin and stamina problems. He’s someone that can hurt you early and score a knockout, but if the fight goes a certain distance, it’s hard to predict an outcome with Groves. He brings the same sense of drama that Amir Khan does to his fights, but without all the holding, head-locks and running that Khan uses.
“I’m not a big talker. I prefer to do my talking in the ring. But what I will say is that I’m here to defend my titles and beat Groves on his home turf,” Rebrasse said. “He is a good fighter but I have trained very hard. He is just the next step for me on my way to the top.”
