Are they actually letting this fight happen? for once the're not putting their financial gain before match making. Obviously this fight will be bigger a couple of years later in the UK, but they also have to fight now for the britsh title
I want to see it, and I will be cheering for George :happy James is the clear favourite though, they're not amateurs anymore.
Disagree , a lot of people are talking about this fight in the UK right now , De Gale is upping the anti in every public appwearance he gets which is capturing the imagination and getting people interested . Domestically the SMW division is looking ok , but this fight really does need to happen right now , there is no excuse for it not to happen , and there are few credible opponents for either man barring themselves for one another . Then add that Groves beat him in the Ama's , and De Gale won an Olympic gold medal to the story and you have a very good domestic fight with 2 fighters who have aspirations for world honours down the line !!!
The BBBoC deserve a mention as they wanted this fight to happen. DeGale is champ & Groves is mandatory. I think the fight will be competitive & Groves is a live underdog who I hope can win.
most people haven't reali heard much of groves as hes below the radar, but at this point groves deffinately has a chance.
Hayemaker have managed to land Groves some really good sparring with Dirrell. I thought DeGale was a lock to win this one but if it turns out Groves can hang with Dirrell in sparring then that makes things a whole lot more interesting.
Degale big favourite but I very much want Groves. Plus I think Degale could bounce back form a defeat but Groves will find it much harder to do that.
I'm a massive DeGale fan and I had been extremely confident he'd win this in style. The one worry I have though is that he didn't really seem to be able to hurt that french journeyman he faced on the undercard of the Ricky Burns fight the other week. He should have got that guy out of there and earlier. It was a disappointing that it was only stopped cos the Frenchman (sorry I forget his name) wasn't throwing back. Maybe its not fair to read too much into it but I'm giving Groves more of a chance now than I was before that fight.
Two great talents both capable of developing enough to compete at world level. But in terms of resuklt of the fight which would help this progress I think a blemish on Degales record may make him knuckle down a bit and check the ego (ala Khan) whereas a loss for Groves could severely knock his confidence and its quite possible he would fall away and not live up to the potential he has shown
I think both have more than just the ability to 'compete' at world level. I see both holding world titles down the line
It's certainly a genuine grudge match although I expect most Degale fights will be grudge matches as he's such a complete 24 carat knobhead. Groves is good and I know he beat Degale in the amateurs, but Degale seems to be progressing better in the pros and has that certain something Groves doesn't. Would Groves have won an Olympic gold medal if he'd been chosen ahead of Degale? I doubt it
I actually think whoever loses will struggle to get their career back on track... they have both talked so much trash that it will be very hard for the loser to pull himself together and get on with it after a defeat. It is an absolutley mouthwatering fight though I agree.