George Groves has told James DeGale to forget about a rematch - for now. The British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion defends his titles against Paul Smith This content is protected on Saturday, knowing a win will raise the stakes for a return of their May showdown. Not only will his performance be compared to DeGale's This content is protected , when he outclassed the Liverpudlian to take the British belt, but the bitter rivals are now essentially stablemates. Groves This content is protected has of course joined Frank ******'s This content is protected set-up and the man who promotes them both has made no secret that a rematch is very much part of his plans. But the champion says a second meeting at this stage, would be utterly pointless. "Last time we boxed it was unavoidable," he told skysports.com. "I believe when we do box again, it definitely won't be on his terms. It'll be whether I want it, or whether the public demand it. Not if he wants it. "We made our point clear to Frank when we signed, what we want from the next couple of years, he totally understands and we said that James DeGale is not on our immediate radar. "I beat him, there's no need to beat him again any time soon. It doesn't serve me any purpose, it doesn't make me a better fighter." "In a few years' time if there's something more prestigious on the line, or if we've both made improvements then we'll do it again. But at this time, there's no point. "Neither of us has improved enough for there to be a rematch. I've not fought - and he's gone backwards." DeGale picked up the European title with a gutsy points win over the game Pole, Piotr Wilczewski, This content is protected and has joined ****** in calling for a rematch with Groves. But he is yet to match his career-best performance, the ninth-round stoppage of Smith to become British champion in only his ninth professional fight. That defeat forced former champion Smith back to the drawing board. He has since moved to Joe Gallacher's gym and has first-round blow-outs of Jozsef Matolcsi and Paul Samuels behind him as he heads to Wembley Arena on Saturday, where he wants to regain the title he held for 15 months from October 2009. "I'm ready for Paul Smith because I think this is probably his last chance," said Groves "But I haven't seen him perform well to be honest; even way back when he fought Tony Quigley, This content is protected I thought he was uptight. "Then, when he fought Tony Dodson, I thought he was getting outboxed for vast amounts of that fight, it was just that Dodson seemed panicked about blowing up. And obviously when he fought DeGale he was annihilated. "For me, it's about fighting the best Paul Smith. He's got a new trainer in Joe Gallagher This content is protected for a start. "But the thing that benefits me is a lot of those Joe Gallagher fighters fight pretty similar to each other, you know they're in the gym doing exactly the same things. "I saw Scott Quigg the other week, so I can probably take more out of that fight than any of Smith's! I've been preparing for Quigg - and he's probably the best out of all that lot!"
I don't know how much further either of them will go. Neither one exactly screams world class in todays division do they? But i agree with george mostly here. give a few years
Groves is in no rush. Watch Froch, Ward and Bute after 12 fights and 3 years as a pro, they were not at the level Groves is at now.
Rightly so, Groves is in no rush. Degale is in some sort of mad rush to get to the top, it will backfire on him.
Let Degale twist, Groves has got a great attitude and he's entitled to make this fight on his terms:thumbsup
I don't see why anyone wants a rematch right now. DeGale should have beaten him the first time if he was good enough. He's got to go and prove he deserves the rematch. Groves can do what he wants until that time.
Groves would serve well to remember he beat him by 1 point in an incredibly controversial fight. DeGale in his very next fight leap frogged his level and became European champ. Groves hasn't fought and DeGale didn't look stellar so to rebuild a rematch then one or two good victories are needed, possibly on the same card.
Groves doesn't have to remember anything - the Pole was as average as they come and he made DeGale look shocking.