George Groves Lands 3rd World Title Opportunity
News broke that Groves vs Badou Jack had been agreed yesterday and will take place in the USA (venue to be confirmed). After coming up short to Carl Froch on two occasions, ‘The Saint’ will likely be ultra motivated for this.
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The possible dates for this fight will be in September and I heard Las Vegas being a possible venue (Jack is based there).
The fight was due to go to the purse bids, but team Sauerland and Mayweather promotions were able to agree a deal. This is another huge moment for British boxing, as once again one of their fighters will be involved in another top fight.
Badou Jack (‘The Ripper’) is a Swedish born fighter, now living in the States. Not really known to fight fans across the European side of the pond, but was impressive in his last fight dominating Andrea Dirrell and stripping him of his WBC strap.
Having only 21 fights (19W 1L 1D), he was tipped to be a big star, but lost to American Derek Edwards (TKO), which had pretty much put any hopes he had of title ambitions on hold it seemed.
However, he came back with 2 impressive wins (UD Jason Escalera & TKO Francisco Sierra) and earned a shot at Dirrell (Dirrell’s first defence). Forcing the fight with Dirrell, he made it into his type of fight, making Dirrell uncomfortable and making the contest an inside brawl, having his best moment in round 9.
I don’t see Groves having it all his own way, but from what I’ve seen of Jack, I think Groves won’t let him dictate the course of the fight. If Groves can do what he did against Froch (first fight) and command the centre of the ring, then he will frustrate Jack and make his job a lot easier.
It’s a fight that I’m looking forward to and it will be interesting to see the build up to this, particularly with the usual Groves mental warfare that fans are now accustomed to.
Will Groves be his usual self though or will he come in with a different approach?
Many fight fans will be expecting him to start the minds games early (Remember that Rubik’s cube) and try to ruffle the feathers of Jack. Only time will tell.
This could be a juicy precursor to a possible rematch down the line for George Groves and James Degale, provided both come through and win their world title challenges of course.
Imagine a unification fight between the two later this year. What a part two that would be.
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