Groves: I won’t allow Chudinov fight to be close

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Three time world title challenger George Groves says he won’t let his fight against Russian knockout artist Fedor Chudinov be close on Saturday night at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England. Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) and Chudinov will be fighting in the co-feature bout on the Kell Brook vs. Errol Spence Jr. card on Saturday night. Chudinov’s punching power makes him a live threat to beating Groves. Chudinov is the underdog in this fight, but you can’t count him out because of Groves is so unpredictable. You never know what you’re going to get with Groves. He could do well against Chudinov or he could get tapped on the chin and drop for the 10 count.

The fight will be televised on both Sky Box Office PPV in the UK and Showtime Championship Boxing in the USA. Groves is supposed to be the favorite over Chudinov, but it’s pretty much a 50-50 fight in my view. Chudinov can punch like no tomorrow, and he applies nonstop pressure on his opponents round after round until he breaks them. The fighters that do go the 12 round distance with Chudinov from time to time are fighters that have elected to run from him.

Take a look at Chudinov’s fights against Frank Buglioni and Felix Sturm to see what I’m talking about. Both of those fighters were running from Chudinov through most of their fights. Chudinov has knockout power in both hands. He throws a mean clubbing right hand that could be a real problem for Groves if he lands that shot. Chudinov also likes to throw a straight right hand to the midsection of his opponents. That punch is really hard to take. I can see Chudinov knocking Groves out with that body shot. Chudinov’s hand speed is slow, but if he lands his body shots, he could knock Groves out.

If Groves loses to Chudinov by a knockout or one-sided decision, then I think it would be wise for him to hang up the gloves and retire from boxing. Another knockout loss for Groves would be a BIG hint that he’s not really cutout for the upper echelon of the sport. I mean, Groves can certainly continue to fight as a contender if he wants, but I think it would be a huge sign that he’s not going to be able to win a world title during his career. This is Groves’4th time fighting for a world title after failing on 3 other title challenges.

Groves feels that he was unlucky in his first loss to Carl Froch and his 12 round decision loss to Badou Jack. Groves needs to win on Saturday against Chudinov, because they’re fighting for the WBA Super World super middleweight title. It’ll be the 4th time for Groves to be challenging for a world title. He’s been beaten the other 3 times. The sanctioning bodies keep giving Groves’s chances, which some boxing fans feel is because he’s well connected with a big promoter.

Would Groves be getting title shot after title shot if he were with a small time promoter? I have my doubts. Getting all these title shots and losing all the time puts the spotlights on the sanctioning bodies, because they’re bypassing other contenders in favor of giving Groves all these opportunities. Callum Smith is a fine contender, and yet he still hasn’t been given a title fight. It would be nice to see some new blood in the super middleweight division if Groves gets beaten again. It would be nice if someone talented like David Benavidez gets 4 title shots too like Groves.

Groves says he won’t let the former world champion Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs) into the fight. That could be easier said than done for the 29-year-old Groves (25-3, 18 KOs), because his chin and his poor stamina seem to have a mind of their own. Groves gets knocked down every now and then, and he gasses out when pressed by his opponents. Lately, Groves has been doing well with him winning his last 4 fights against fringe contenders Martin Murray, Eduard Gutknecht, David Brophy and Adrea Di Luisa. Winning over this type of lower level opposition told us absolutely nothing about Groves other than his promoters have been being EXTRA careful with him ever since he was whipped by Badou Jack in a 12 round decision loss in September 2015.

That was a fight where Groves hit the deck HARD in the 1st round after taking a right hand smash to the head. Groves got up and was staggering. What was interesting about that knockdown was how it happened moments after some of Groves’ boxing fans in the audience started to sing football songs. Groves then started to attack Badou seemingly in response to the singing. Once that happened, Badou dropped Groves hard with a right hand that hit him on the back of the head.

I guess the moral of this story is that Groves needs to ignore the fans and fight in a cautious manner, because he doesn’t possess the chin or the conditioning to be brawling with a hard puncher like Chudinov. I mean, Groves can do whatever he wants inside the ring against Chudinov, but I think it would be stupid for him to open up with his power shots against the Russian fighter early in the fight.

“I don’t feel beat up, or exposed. I got knocked out in one of them, but it was a ‘pick ’em’ fight,” said Groves to Sky Sports News. ”The first fight with Froch was unlucky, against Jack I was unlucky. This time I won’t allow it to be close, or let luck play a part.”

It’s always amusing to hear a fighter not willing to admit that they were beaten the way Groves was by Froch and Badou. I think Groves would be better off to admit that he wasn’t good enough to beat Froch and Badou. When you constantly aren’t willing to admit where you failed, I don’t think you learn from the failures. Groves lost to Froch the first time because he ran out of gas and got hurt.

Groves’ chin failed him in that fight as well when he got hurt and was stopped in the 9th. In Groves’ 8th round knockout loss to Froch in their rematch in 2014, Groves made a blundering mistake by backing up against the ropes and trying to fight him from that spot. Froch then nailed the trapped Groves with a right hand to the head to knock him clean out. If Groves had watched Froch’s fight against Lucian Bute, he would have known how utterly stupid it was for him to back up against the ropes.

Froch has always done well against fighters that were fighting off the ropes.
Groves was exposed by Carl Froch and Badou Jack. When you get knocked out two times and almost knocked out a third time, it tells me that you’ve been exposed. I’m sorry, Groves, but you were shown to not have the talent to beat Froch and Jack. You can’t keep fighting Froch because he retired, but Badou would likely face you if you moved up to 175.

”I thought I should have been world champion but I wasn’t,” Groves said. “I had a low period. It hit home, losing a split decision to Badou Jack. I made changes and since then it’s been nothing but up.”

Groves was never going to be a world champion, because he couldn’t beat Froch or Badou Jack. If you can’t beat the guys that you’re challenging for a world title, then you can’t say that you should have been a world champion. It doesn’t make sense. I should have been this or I should have been that. No, Groves was exactly what he was supposed to be after he fought Froch and Jack, and that’s the loser of those fights. You don’t win world titles by losing. Groves needs to look at where he went wrong in those instead of pining away thinking that he should have been a world champion. Groves shouldn’t have been a world champion, because you don’t get crowned a world champion by losing. It’s not done that way in boxing, I hate to say.

As far as Groves saying, “It’s been nothing but up” for him since his loss to Badou Jack. Look at the guys Groves has been fighting lately. In his 4 fights since the loss to Jack, Groves has fought Brophy, Murray, Di Luisa and Gutknecht. Groves hasn’t been fighting the talented contenders. Instead of Groves fighting those 4 guys, why didn’t Groves fight these 4 fighters: Benavidez, Andre Dirrell, Anthony Dirrell and Callum Smith? Could Groves beat all of those fighters? I have my doubts. In fact, I think Groves would lose to pretty much all of them.