Groves has certainly matured since the Froch fights into a more assured confident fighter and dude that knows his game. Credit due.
I think most people outside of the Froch family can see that. Quite why Carl's idiot brother Lee still harbors such resent towards a man he poured such scorn on and his brother decisively knocked out is beyond me.
the thing is I dont think he can really learn that much!? he is 28 so coming into his peak and to late to start learning one of the most important fundamentals that takes years and years to perfect ie footwork. I think Eubanks biggest hinderance was not taking up boxing at a young age and going thro the amateur route. Is it true he spent a few years in the states with Mayweather Snr?
Yes, well said. I picked Eubank (ouch!) but I did expect him to look clumsy for most of the fight. What surprised me was Groves' confidence and calmness under pressure, and he took Eubank's shots without problems too. Even in Groves' title win vs Chudinov he was very uncomfortable with Chudinov's pressure for a while, this time he calmly and maturely kept Eubank off.
Look I ve no vested interest in this. I was actually nervous before the fight that eubank would beat groves because I m a pretty big groves fan. Me and the wife we,re cheering groves on at the weekend. I told her half way through the first round groves would win it easy even tho before the fight I thought eubank would beat groves. But he was far too big/strong for him at the weight...it was pretty clear to see from early. He was hurting eubank. Eubanks punches didn't,t have any sort of effect on groves. Groves does still have sleight stamina issues....on Saturday night it was no where to be seen. The fight was a decent pace. Its just that eubank wasn't strong enough to be able to effect groves in any real way. It was an easy fight for groves. Groves was always gonna beat him on the outside...he beats most on them outside. It was all about the inside for eubank...people think he couldn't get inside. Tbf it was a problem. But the bigger problem was groves was too strong/big for him on the inside. Eubank knew it from early. It discouraged him from fighting on the inside. Left him to try to bullrush groves as a only real hope. The weight was the bigger issue in that fight. Eubank gassed first...its not easy fighting a guy 8 lbs heavier than you with the bigger longer physique the way they drain down nowadays. Anyone show me a fighter not draining and having big success. You,ll need to show me real elite talents. Even golovkins draining. Jacobs gave him fits by coming in the much heavier man. Mayweather and pacman had to completely change their game the less they had to drain. These are all time greats. People underestimating how big a part the scales make in a fight. They,ve got it down to a fine science.
Oh I think Eubank and team suckered a lot of us into thinking he was better than he was myself inc. I suppose though if you were to break his career down after his loss to Saunders the way he was matched was very odd going after national grade fighters and UK belts and then the IBO title like it actually meant anything. I know his dad gets a lot of stick but he’s no mug when it comes to the sport and looking back I think it shows what his dad knew about Jnr and was trying to rebuild him only every opponent he was matched against was the same stand in front of him type guy so when he finally did step up against a boxer in Groves Jnr was found wanting big time. Isal kept telling me about Eubank jnr so with re to him being a fraud perhaps we should admonish ourselves rather than having a pop at Jnr who can’t be faulted for his tenacity and workrate.
That’s a good point and is something Paulie M keeps on mentioning how weight classes just aren’t being respected on account of PEDs but your right 8-10lbs is a lot of weight to give up. That trick that Jacobs pulled with the IBF got the backs up off fans and pundits alike,forced a rule change with the IBF I believe?
This is the fastest jumping off the bandwagon I've ever seen. It was like yesterday when james and his fellow little Eubank cult members believed that he was a couple of fights away from the p4p king throne.
Pretty sure that right angler. They changed it not long after that fight. Waived the second day weigh in in unification bouts. Think the rule was under 10 lbs rehydration for the second day weigh in from the first day weigh in.
That’s it and in theory it’s a good rule only that Jacobs realised he could troll everyone into thinking he’d fight for the IBF and come the day of the fight go back on it which is dishonourable imo as it meant GGG as defender had to put up with a Cruiserweight on the night and yet as it’s GGG it doesn’t matter as he’s so dominant at Middleweight his opponents should be allowed to cheat just to compete with him lol.
Totally agree mate. They couldn't beat him fairly so they,ll try and cheat him. The annoying thing is its rarely mentioned what Jacobs done either. He still got the kudos for a good performance as well.
"meat and potatoes beating" well said like you, i think the division's elite is not in the tourney--in particular, Zurdo (Gilberto Ramirez), and David Benavidez but also for instance, Jesse Hart, Jose Uzcategui, and either or both of the Dirrell brothers would have made the tourney more interesting i would imagine Zurdo and Benavidez were invited, particularly given they have the WBO and WBC straps it bothers me that the SMW tournament didn't get the participation that the CW counterpart did eg, all four straps up for grabs in the CW tournament because the owners of each are fighting in the tourney; by contrast, just the holder of just one of four straps (not counting IBO, just IBF, WBA, WBO, and WBC) is in the SMW tourney
