Groves wants DeGale rematch after Chudinov fight

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: George Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) is REALLY looking past his next fight against the hard hitting Fedor Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs) towards a rematch with James DeGale that he wants to make happen. Groves and Chudinov will be fighting this month for the vacant WBA Super World super middleweight title on May 27 on the undercard of the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. card at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England. Groves-Chudinov is the co-feature bout on the card, which will be televised by Sky Sports in the UK.

Groves beat DeGale by a questionable 12 round majority decision 6 years ago in 2011. Both fighters have changed a lot since then. Groves has fought 15 times, losing 3 of them to Carl Froch [x 2] and Badou Jack. DeGale , 31, has fought 14 times, and hasn’t suffered a defeat during that time span; although DeGale fought to a 12 round draw in his last fight against Badou Jack in January of this year. Before that minor setback, DeGale’s boxing career was humming along in a fine manner, and was seen by some boxing fans as having the better pro career than Groves, who just hasn’t been able to cut the mustard for some reason.

As hard as Groves hits, he’s failed when he’s stepped up the big time in challenging for world titles 3 times against Froch and Badou Jack. Groves’ chin has betrayed him in all three title challenges. It’s unfortunate because Groves has the punching power to be a world champion, his chin and his stamina seems to have held him back.

“Yes certainly. Things have got to fall into place to make that sort of fight happen, but if I was a gambling man I would say it will happen,” said Groves to skysports.com about wanting to finally face DeGale in a rematch.

Groves, 29, shouldn’t be overlooking the Russian Chudinov, because he’s got heavy hands, and he could score a knockout. Like Carl Froch, Chudinov isn’t the fastest fighter in the 168 pound division, but he’s got respectable punching power. Chudinov’s hand speed is glacially slow, and I don’t know if he’ll be able to land enough of his big shots to hurt Groves. I know it’s going to hurt when Chudinov does land his shots, but Groves will at least be able to brace for the impact because he’ll likely see the shots coming at him.

It’s still possible that Groves could get knocked out in this fight, because he was hurt by Martin Murray last June. Murray covered up behind his clam-shell guard for most of the fight, but in one round in which he finally did let his hands go, he had Groves ready to be knocked out. Chudinov is probably about as fast as Murray, but with more power. It could be a grueling fight for Groves if he’s unable to knockout Chudinov, who has never been stopped in his career.

The 29-year-ol Chudinov wore down Frank Buglioni and Felix Sturm with his pressure and nonstop punches in his last two fights. Sturm won a controversial 12 round majority decision last year in February 2016. I had Chudinov winning that fight by 4 rounds. The fight took place in Germany, where Sturm lives. The scoring of that fight was terrible in my opinion. Chudinov deserved the win. Of course, he was fighting in Sturm’s home country, so that put him in a tough position to try and win a decision against the German fighter.

Chudinov is going to be an equally tough position against the British fighter Groves in going to Bramall Lane on May 27 to fight him in Sheffield, England. Will Chudinov need a knockout in order to get the victory over Groves on the night? I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that’s the case. Groves hasn’t been involved in too many controversial fights in his career. It would be a pity if the Groves-Chudinov fight turns out to have a controversial decision ending. Given that the fight is taking place in the UK, you have to believe that the boxing crowd will be on Groves’ side for the entire fight.

If the judges aren’t influenced by the pro-Groves crowd, then we should see a fair decision if it goes to the scorecards. Ideally, the Groves vs. Chudinov fight will end with a knockout so there’s no question of controversy. Groves has the punching power to stop Chudinov. There’s no doubt that Groves is one of the biggest punchers in the 168 pound division today if not the biggest. Groves is definitely up there in the top 3 in the super middleweight division in terms of his power.

The things that have held Groves back throughout his career are his chin and stamina. The stamina is probably the biggest flaw that Groves has. He gets tired and then is more susceptible to getting hurt. If Groves can’t knockout Chudinov on May 27, he could get worn down and stopped. Chudinov is really good at throwing hard shots in close. Chudinov throws short, slow, thudding punches on the inside, one after another. It’s hard for Chudinov’s opponents to deal with the constant pressure he puts on them, as well as his high work rate.

Getting hit with thudding shots nonstop for 12 rounds has got to be a difficult thing for Chudinov’s opposition to deal with. Chudinov had Frank Buglioni in a panic mode in their fight in September 2015. Buglioni started out well in throwing a lot of fast shots, but he eventually started to wear down from the pressure and the high punch volume from Chudinov. By the second half of the fight, Buglioni looked exhausted and finished.

“For me, I’ve got to go out and win this month, win a world title, and then we can talk sensibly about a James DeGale fight,” said Groves.

I think it’s wise for Groves to make the DeGale fight as soon as possible, because I don’t see either of these guys lasting too much longer as top fighters. DeGale should have been beaten by Jack in their fight last January. DeGale was dropped in that fight, and he looked gold and worn out. DeGale will soon have to face the winner of the Andre Dirrell vs. Jose Uzcategui fight, and that could be tough for him to try and get past the winner of that fight.

Dirrell got the better of DeGale through long stretches of their fight in May 2015. The only reason DeGale won was because he knocked Dirrell down twice in the 2nd round. If Dirrell hadn’t got careless, he would have won the fight. DeGale took a lot of punishment in his last three fights since then against Lucian Bute, Rogelio Medina and Badou Jack. Those were very, very tough fights for DeGale.

If Groves can get past Chudinov and still remain cogent, then he should try and put together the DeGale right straightaway while the two of them are world champions. Once one of them loses their world title, the fight will likely have less meaning with the British boxing public. Groves had said in the past that there was no rush in him fighting DeGale again after beating him by a close 12 round decision in 2011. Groves wanted to wait until the two of them were world champions before fighting him again.

Little did Groves realize at the time that it would take him 6 years to finally become a world champion? Groves still has to beat Chudinov on May 27 to capture the WBA Super World super middleweight title, but he stands a good chance of winning the fight due to the Russian fighter being slow, inactive and not particularly tall at 5’9”.

I think there’s a very small window for the Groves vs. DeGale fight to take place under optimal conditions with the two of them being world champions. They need to make that fight as soon as possible before one of them gets whipped. Both of them are vulnerable as heck right now of losing, because they’re getting up there in age and don’t look young like they used to. Age wise, Groves and DeGale aren’t old, but in looking at the wear and tear they’ve had in some of their fights, you can argue that they’re getting old.

Groves thinks his fight with Chudinov is going to steal the show from the Brook vs. Spence fight on May 27. I think he might be right. I expect the Brook-Spence fight to be a mismatch with Spence beating Brook every which way but loose. With the Groves-Chudinov fight, this has the makings of a very competitive fight with a lot of back and forth action. I think we’ll have some drama in the Groves vs. Chudinov fight that won’t be there for the Brook vs. Spence match.

Brook is coming into the Spence fight after having been broken apart by Gennady Golovkin last September, and I don’t see him being able to take another beating so soon. Additionally, Brook has had to take off a lot of weight to get down to 147, and I think he’s going to be weak from weight loss to get down to the welterweight limit. Brook appeared to be in the 180s when he started to drop weight for the Spence fight. I’m not sure what Brook’s fight night weight will be, but he’s still going to have to drop over 30 pounds to make the 147lb limit on the night.