George Groves v Gerald McClellan

I like Groves. He's a smart kid, fast hands, good footwork, decent power and pretty well schooled from what I've seen of him, but this would be like feeding him to the slaughter house. McClellan by KO within 5

 

That's about the size of it.
Benn had that get out of jail power and he was ready to go early on.

 

Groves would probably have some success until he got chin checked, but it'd happen eventually, and it wouldn't be pretty.

McClellan can get overrated on here from time to time, but Groves is the kind of fighter King would've drooled about matching him up with to feed the hype machine. It'd be a matter of when, not if, he got caught.

 

Groves would have zero success here. G-Man was MUCH faster than Froch, a more explosive puncher than Froch, and a quicker starter than Froch. Groves gets knocked senseless in 2 or 3.

 

G Man crushes Groves by KO.

 

mis-match

 

at Unforgiven's

Let's see ... talented enough to cause future (what 7-time or something like that) champ WBA SMW Frankie Liles trouble in the ring a couple times in the AMs as a young man (while giving away nearly three years - and age matters a good bit early and late in a career) as well as future ATG RJJ demonstrating a pretty clear talent level and pedigree and potential trajectory.

Won a minor middleweight belt at merely 24 years of age (WBO) and a major (WBC) middleweight at 25 1/2. Defended four times and faced a not so horrible fighter (if not well considered, ya think?) in Julian Jackson twice. Immediately preceded to move to SMW without a warmup fight, without worrying about acclimating to the higher weight class, and taking a title fight for the WBC SMW belt on foreign grounds against the champ in something like his tenth fight at SMW (Benn). That's a pretty ambitious and confident move that few would do. Certainly no SMW of the next decade or so would consider that.

Acquitted himself rather well as the fight could have been over in the 1st (using British refs as the measure) if McClellan had been the British fighter and Benn (the opponent from anywhere outside the UK).

So, we have the fighters he gave hell in the AMs - right before they all turned pro who went on to have predictably "okay" careers (Liles SMW champ, RJJ (MW, SMW, LHW champ). We have the fact that he had the MW title at the same time as RJJ got there with the IBF against Hopkins.

He was already easily of the size to do well at SMW and most anyone with any foresight could project that a 30 year old McClellan could very likely if not certainly end up as a LHW.

But, to you the pieces are just too difficult to assemble, huh? Surely I'm misreading your post's intention - it is laughing at Groves more than the idea of everyone picking McClellan.

If RJJ had been hurt in a car crash after the Hopkins fight would it have been laughable to imagine him beating George Groves too?

It is the talent level and athleticism that matters - not his boxrec - in this case. Everyone has it right. McClellan was a first class puncher, that had - overall - an undeniable decent early career that would logically have led to being the SMW champ for as long as he wanted it if he was willing to put the work in considering who was there a few years later.

That said, Groves has far too many weaknesses at this point to be certain about his development. At 25 years and nine months, Ward was close to leaving the 30/31 year old Kessler horizontal if not for the TD bailout to save him. At the same age 25/26, Groves was being stopped twice by the slow but laudable Carl Froch.

Perhaps Groves can turn it around as he's still young. The difference is that McClellan was already a young though not yet prime FORCE in the ring before his career ending condition.

Projecting a rather substantive career at SMW based upon the little we saw but on top of his amateur work, pro career, and success at MW makes it pretty reasonable as it could be taken a lot farther than merely predicting he could KO the "rugged" George Groves.

 

So, the guy was just laying there in the middle of the road, clearly having been hit by a hit-and-run driver, and I just started kicking him, for no apparent reason. I come home, wife asks why I have blood on my boots, I tell her to mind her own bee's wax and make me a sandwich. Now, I'm divorced and the cops are looking for me. I don't know what happened. I didn't do anything wrong. The guy was already laying there!

 

I'm usually the one playing devil's advocate on G-man threads since he's shockingly unproven in fights that last the distance (or that go past 6 rounds, for that matter) and he's not the hardest guy to outbox. Thing is, to get that far, you've got to be able to take some shots.

For as long as Groves was able to avoid McClellan, his speed advantage and tighter shots would score him some points. I just don't see him lasting the full distance. Eventuelly, McClellan's "hulk smash" offense probably gets to him, and the results wouldn't be pretty.

Sure, they're both front runners, but I think the chins are the difference here.

 

Ouch!!!

 

Yes, but Mclellan and Froch have absolutely nothing in common?

Mclellan has nothing in common with Groves either for that matter