Groves vs Eubanks.. Official pick em!

I agree, good post.

Lots of people are pointing to Jr's chin, saying he has granite whiskers but one thing people are not discussing is Groves work to the body, he stopped Cox with a superb body shot.

Those uppercuts to the body are vicious and if Jr is just like his father then he may well have a great set of whiskers but he won't like those bodyshots, Sr didn't wear his shorts under his armpits for nothing.

 

It does seem rather bizarre Eubank is now the bookies favourite. You have a proven, world class boxer against a guy who's beat nobody and lost the only time he stepped up, and Billy Joe didn't even need to do much to take rounds off him before gassing a bit. I actually couldn't believe at the time how off balance and crude Jr was.

If Groves jabs him consistently, I just don't see what Jr can do (apart from moan after the fight that you can't win a fight pecking away and using your feet, which obviously you can).

 

Groves has lost in his 4 toughest fights (got the decision against Degale but I'll sit down with anyone and listen to them trying to find the 7 rounds he won in that fight).

Groves just doesn't have the skills, he won't be able to live with Junior's speed.

Think Junior will make it look easy tbh.

Also the Saunders fight was just weird, not sure what was going on in the early rounds but as soon as Junior decided to fight he was clearly the superior fighter.

 

Hi Junior!

 

I do agree that Degale nicked their fight, although they can both be blamed for not doing enough to give us a conclusive result.

Other than Billy Joe though, I've never seen Eubank in with someone who moves well so I still can't be convinced that Jr has improved against these types of fighters, and it was clearly BJS skills and movement that made Jr look amateurish, not some "Oh, I should have started sooner" Scott Quigg-type rubbish that fighters who lose on the cards after a good finish like to claim. Why didn't they just start sooner then? I know, they don't know how to deal with someone who knows how to jab.

Really looking forward to the fight though and I will be genuinely impressed with Jr if he goes out there and does what he says he will. Groves is no shot fighter so a legit win over him will convert me (at least a little).

 

Still fancying eubank for it. Although I m starting to sway a bit. No one rates groves more than me but he does have them weaknesses. His staminas pretty decent but he's never far away from unravelling. He can get through the rounds...banging the punches out but not sure he can keep it together from a eubank onslaught later on. I say George has to go out and damage him early. Their both accumulation punchers nowadays. People can go on about chins etc but everyone can be got. With the extra weight and the power groves has...its worth putting it on him. He can box him....most will think it's the way to beat eubank for groves. But groves does slow down he won't keep him off for twelve eubank will start to get to him around the 6th. He did with billy Joe. If groves damages him enough with the accumulation first it could nuetralise him for later. Georges powers also harder early. Try to push Jim back. Just don't hook with him. Will be groves downfall if he does.

 

Everyone picking groves has him as this master boxer who has schooled every guy he's faced, even his fights with cox and chudinov were hard fights until he got the finish. Eubank jnr wins a thriller.

 

He might've lost his three biggest fights but in none of them was he out of his depth, arguably beat Jack despite being a poor performance, was beating Froch comfortably before the dodgy stoppage in the first fight and the fight was in the balance before the shot that caught him in the second fight...

I don't believe Eubank Jr is better than those two fighters so unless he catches him with a big shot ala Froch II I can't see Eubank Jr winning. He'd have to do something we haven't seen from him before IMO. But I think he's tough and fit, Groves points close but clear.

 

Groves will keep him at distance with the far superior jab and look to land a big counter past one of his bait uppercuts or hooks. If he don’t ko him he wins on points comfortably.

 

I think you sum it up well. Most people picking Eubank are doing so because of his work-rate and intensity.

What actual area on boxing ability is on level with or better then Groves?

Then the fact he's come up a weight for this tournament.

Everyone bleats on about the Yildirim win, so he won by KO, did anyone watch just how wild and off balance he was when he was hooking with him.

His 'superb-jab' he used against Yildirim, throws it in 3s or 4s, there is no power on it or variation, most of the Jabs against Yildirim hit his gloves.

Against Yildirim what did he actually do on the inside? He held most of the time, both of them did, almost hugging each other - there was no inside fighting hardly, imo that was down to the size difference and physicality. So I expect he will have issues against Groves also with this.

Then there's the fact it took him 10 rounds to stop Quinlan (12 fight novice?), he went 12 with Abraham but where was his relentless work rate there? Why didn't I see him going hell for leather for 3 rounds.

I think he could put it on Groves in the later rounds, I don't think Eubank has any quit in him, but if he does put it on Groves later on, I expect it to be wild flurries with a lack of power, mostly because he will have had to absorb too many hard shots, So i don't think he will stop him from hurting him.

I think Eubank will fight on the backfoot for the first 3 rounds, until his jabs start getting timed by Groves, then I expect him to drop that and start trying to pile pressure.

If I'm wrong I'll put my hands up, but it's hard to make a case for a very technically flawed fighter who's come up a weight class winning this.

 

I think Groves has got this. Both fighters know each other's game. They have sparred in the past. I feel that Groves has the edge in experience and in mental toughness. He has come back from defeat to win a world belt, that takes a good bit of mental toughness.

Eubank jr hasn't really shown anything special against world class competition. The one world class boxer he fought didn't train well enough for their fight and was still able to beat the relentless wrecking machine that is Eubank jr. Maybe jr learned from that but has he fought anyone at that level since his loss to an unfit BJS?

 

The recent press conference was interesting as it reminded me of Froch v Groves but with Eubank taking the '''Groves' role.
Groves has matured now into a top well established champion and it was good that he stayed fairly quiet conserving his energy whilst Eubank ranted about how jealous he is.
This fight will be decent however I see Groves stopping Eubank with a ferocious body shot.
I just hope there are no excuses from Junior after he loses but I expect that is too much to ask!

 

Yeah but he was content to ride the onslaught to get his own punches off...he doesn't fight like that if he can't get away with it...see degale fight as an example...or Froch...that was a chess match for the most part...

Groves weakness for me is that he gets overconfident and likes to get macho when he could keep picking away for the win...tried to trade with Froch as a classic example...

 

It made me chuckle a bit when Junior wanted to wear his IBO belt over his shoulder for the stare-down with Groves, but Kalle discouraged it.

 

Interesting article below, talks about stats for both fighters from previous fights and breaks down both in some detail.

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/the-science-behind-george-groves-vs-chris-eubank-jr/

Part 2:

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/the-science-behind-george-groves-vs-chris-eubank-jr/2/