Last Saturday, George Groves and Martin Murray, as many predicted, stole the limelight at the O2 arena as they
went toe to toe for twelve rounds in an all action domestic bust-up. With seven
world title attempts between them, this was very much last chance saloon for
the pair with the loser unlikely to ever get another shot at a world title.
West Londoner, Groves, certainly
looked the more comfortable of the two in the early rounds, establishing his
jab early on with Murray looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights. The
fight burst into life in the fourth round when the Lancastrian started to put
some kind of pressure on Groves throwing some combinations for the first time
in the fight.
However, that was to be
one of only a few successes that Murray was going to have as it was clear the
gap in class with Groves throwing the far cleaner and harder punches wobbling
Murray on a number of occasions. It seemed as if Murray was relying on Groves’
gas tank to betray him however with the minimum amount of pressure that Murray
was putting on Groves, it took until the twelfth round for him to be visibly
tired.
Groves ran out
comfortable winner on all three of the judges’ scorecards 118-110 however it
must be said that he just does not look anywhere near the same fighter as he
did under Adam Booth. It is sad to see because I am a massive George Groves fan
but his punches do not seem to have the same vicious snap on them that they
used to have however having said that there is no doubt that he can win that so far elusive world title to show for the immense talent he possesses.
Where does Murray go
from here? Having lost all four of his world title attempts and now to Groves
it looks as though he will not achieve his world title dreams. His power was
limited at middleweight let alone at super-middleweight and he just did not
look like a elite level fighter on Saturday. It is unlikely that he will want
to go back to domestic level however there is nowhere else he has to go.
It looks as though
Groves will be heading for the WBA (super) title which is very much up in the
air at this moment in time. Felix Sturm after defeating Fedor Chudinov then
subsequently failed a drugs test so it looks as though Groves will face
Chudinov for the title which should take place at the end of the year and is a
very winnable fight for him.
If Groves can realise
his world title aspirations, then the fight he is forever linked with is the rematch
with amateur rival James DeGale. This is a fight that all UK fans want to see
largely because of the bitter rivalry that was clearly apparent during the
build-up to their fight in 2011 which Groves won. However, DeGale has vastly
improved and will certainly be favourite to avenge his only professional loss. This
is the only fight at super-middleweight which excites me and if Groves should
win a title, fans will be licking their lips at the possibility of a
unification fight.
Tom Eckett
@boxingguru44
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