Board say NO to DeGale Groves rematch request

[jonny]

Rightly so the fight could have gone either way but I do hope it does go on again somewhere down the line

[Autobarn]

Glad to see the Board found their balls and made the right decision.

Grove has got his own career to get on with now....he's the man.

Does this mean Warren will revert to his old ways of WBU titles again :??

absolutely.

[loaded_gloves]

Why is everyone talking about this 'big money fight down the line for 'world honours'??'

Does everyone really think BOTH guys will get far enough for this to be realistic? I'm saying neither even get past Euro level.

Indeed, neither of these guys will become a world champ - it took Groves all he had to nick it from Degale, no way does he end up a world champion. Degale isn't ever going to be good enough either, but of course he won't necessarily even need to box risky European level fighters to 'win' a 'world title', what with the WBO and their prospering Tomato Can Factory always ready to crown another Warren 'champ'.

[Captain Hook]

I would rather see them fight each other again than someone like Anderson or Smith

The Groves v Degale fight was not that great that I would not want to see it again in the short term. The Groves V Anderson fight however was a cracker and Anderson came in a short notice for that fight. Groves V Anderson II with Anderson getting full notice would be the fight I'd rather see.

After beating James DeGale he should be looking forward to bigger fights not backwards at Anderson.

He beat DeGale fair and square, they had a real nerve even asking for a rematch, but that's FW for you. PR disaster before they even squared off, and it only got worse for them.

DeGale needs to be humble now and make strides in the ring. If his jab had been as quick as his gob he'd have won on Saturday night.......but it wasn't

Well done George Groves I say, had the tools to beat him...

[stujones]

Disagree CH, I think Groves is too young and inexperienced to move on to bigger and better than Degale. This would mean someone like Brian Magee, the guy just didn't make an idiot of himself fighting arguably the #1 in the devision.

I like the idea of Kenny Anderson first and then moving up to EBU level.

[wrimc]

Disagree CH, I think Groves is too young and inexperienced to move on to bigger and better than Degale. This would mean someone like Brian Magee, the guy just didn't make an idiot of himself fighting arguably the #1 in the devision.

I like the idea of Kenny Anderson first and then moving up to EBU level.

i think Groves still has plenty to learn and there are plenty of challenges available to him to test him at domestic level jeffires and Anderson would be good before he tried to move onto a Magee type fighter. It being Hayemaker however its hard to tell how he will be matched next as they like to move their fighters quick.

[whiskey]

Unfortunately for Degale, he is now in the rear view mirror - and deep pockets will be required or a trip to Germany to bag the regular WBA title or Steiglitz WBO strap.

The IBF, WBC & Super WBA titles are out of his reach.

Meanwhile Groves should go for the euro title once his cuts have closed up nicely. Sit on that for a while and earn some coins.

[sendo]

Why is everyone talking about this 'big money fight down the line for 'world honours'??'

Does everyone really think BOTH guys will get far enough for this to be realistic? I'm saying neither even get past Euro level.

They will comfortably get past Euro Level.

I like Carl Froch but both of them have been vastly more impressive than he was at the same stage of their careers. I remember similar doubts being expressed about Froch and they were proven totally wrong. The other reality is that even if you don't rate either of them, they have the promotional and TV weight behind them to get world title shots without a problem.

[clunkclik]

Why ask for a rematch, get on with your lives, have more fights, a domestic battle has been done and dusted,

[Cas]

A rematch? Why on earth would Groves want a rematch? In his words 'I've beat Degale twice. How many more times do I have to beat him?!'. Groves is moving on from here, he doesn't need Degale anymore.

Degale needs to recoup urgently. A new trainer is perhaps a wise idea as McDonnell was useless on Saturday.

[hurlock]

groves should make a voluntry against anyone apart from degale. who should proceed in an eliminator. that way groves can showcase himself to the public before moving towards euro level.

id like to see degale fight him again & put it right. but you cant blame groves for not wanting to cross that bridge again :!: unless frank digs real deep.

[gobbles]

A rematch? Why on earth would Groves want a rematch? In his words 'I've beat Degale twice. How many more times do I have to beat him?!'. Groves is moving on from here, he doesn't need Degale anymore.

Degale needs to recoup urgently. A new trainer is perhaps a wise idea as McDonnell was useless on Saturday.

Could well be that they need each other before not too long.

Anyway the most outrageous decision of the Board was not to give Shinny Bayyar rematch and then sanction Paul Edwards to make a voluntary defence.

[RJP]

I'm a bit baffled by this talk of a "massive rematch down the line." I wouldn't rule anything out but my instinct is that George is going to get an almighty beat-down if he's put in with any sort of savvy fighter with a dig. Hope I'm wrong.

Just get the feeling he's the sort of fighter who's got bags of spirit but will deteriorate quickly after a bad loss.

Personally don't see the issue with getting them back in together now after such an inconclusive outcome.

George had to focus for virtually every second and produce the performance to sneak that victory and I think he shocked himself a little and still has doubts as to whether lighning could strike twice.

James, on the other hand, has multiple questions hanging over him, despite demonstrating the greater talent when he chose to pull his finger out IMO.

Personally, I think they should meet now while the rivalry is still relevant.


Ps, all this talk of George beating James twice is accurate on one level but daft on others. It's a completely different game at the end of the day - just ask Audley!

[hurlock]

I'm a bit baffled by this talk of a "massive rematch down the line." I wouldn't rule anything out but my instinct is that George is going to get an almighty beat-down if he's put in with any sort of savvy fighter with a dig. Hope I'm wrong.

Just get the feeling he's the sort of fighter who's got bags of spirit but will deteriorate quickly after a bad loss.

Personally don't see the issue with getting them back in together now after such an inconclusive outcome.

George had to focus for virtually every second and produce the performance to sneak that victory and I think he shocked himself a little and still has doubts as to whether lighning could strike twice.

James, on the other hand, has multiple questions hanging over him, despite demonstrating the greater talent when he chose to pull his finger out IMO.

Personally, I think they should meet now while the rivalry is still relevant.


Ps, all this talk of George beating James twice is accurate on one level but daft on others. It's a completely different game at the end of the day - just ask Audley!

groves is only 23 lots of valid points tho. groves did have to box out his skin & it wasnt a great display imo. degale was just walking him down & not setting anything up just hooks.i thought degale won it.

[NazNaci1]

Groves is younger and will get better and stronger. The guy has just as much potential and to outbox the Olympic Champ, takes some doing.

Regardless of how Degale fought, he lacked imagination and the ability to turn it around, just doing the same things over and over again.

Close fight and if it went Degale's way. no one could really argue, but it didn't and it was a fair result.

Degale has nothing that will benefit Groves now, not title, lower ranking and and a loss to him.

Give it a few years and then they can go again. Groves is going to get better by then, so I am not convinced Degale would win even then.

[RJP]

Groves is younger and will get better and stronger. The guy has just as much potential and to outbox the Olympic Champ, takes some doing.

Regardless of how Degale fought, he lacked imagination and the ability to turn it around, just doing the same things over and over again.

Close fight and if it went Degale's way. no one could really argue, but it didn't and it was a fair result.

Degale has nothing that will benefit Groves now, not title, lower ranking and and a loss to him.

Give it a few years and then they can go again. Groves is going to get better by then, so I am not convinced Degale would win even then.

My feeling is that people are massively overplaying the quality of George's performance; he was disciplined and followed Booth's game plan from first bell til last. However, in many respects it was an unambitious and in some ways a fearful performance.

I'd have liked to have seen him frustrate James early before stepping things up to build a more conclusive victory, rather than leaving things to chance (to me it was a draw). It's a moot point as he got the result but he was lucky in some respects (I don't think three American judges would've given him the fight).

[RJP]

To cut a long story short, neither fighter should be dining out on that performance and, to me, the fight left us with more questions than answers.

[NazNaci1]

Got to say I disagree and I say this as a boxing fan of both. Degale comes across as a tw@t but its a poor act, as most know.

George, 23 yrs old, not renowned for fighting that way, taking on an Olympic Champ and promotion golden boy and outboxing him, he deserves enormous credit and massive respect.

He outslicked the slickster and more than held his own (even if some people don't think he won, although I thought he won by 1 round).

Forget about Degale not doing enough, he was puzzled and frustrated, you can only do what your allowed to do and George was jabbing well and banging hard to the body.

[RJP]

It's all about opinions but mine is that neither fighter did enough to walk out of there as a champion. For that reason alone, I think a rematch is necessity. Bollocks to this stuff about waiting til they're both world champions, there's a lot of ifs buts and maybes there and all sorts tha could happen in the meantime - let's deal with the here & now and the reality that this was a British title fight between the two top warriors in the country (a sadly unusual occurrence).

[goldenears]

To cut a long story short, neither fighter should be dining out on that performance and, to me, the fight left us with more questions than answers.

spot on

[jameswilson]

Latest European ratings (April 2011)

Champ - Piotr Wilczewski
Challenger - Karoly Balszay

1 - Arthur Abraham
2 - Brian Magee
3 - Stas Kashtanov
4 - James DeGale
5 - Mehdi Bouadla
6 - Khoren Gevor
7 - George Groves
8 - Lolenga Mock - EU Champion
9 - Christian Sanavia
10 - Mouhamed Ali Ndyaye



I'd say George Groves will defend his British and Commonwealth belts next. Looking at these ratings a fight with Brian Magee could double as an eliminator for the European title. For Groves there's several guys there who could instantly put him right back up there. Koren Gevor's name sticks out because his last 2 fights have been World title fights so you'd have thought beating him convincingly would stick DeGale's ranking right back up there. But they may wanna give him an easy fight to come back from this defeat. Btw these rankings were as of April 11 so won't have taken quite a few fights into account including obviously the one at the weekend.

[Captain Hook]

Groves is younger and will get better and stronger. The guy has just as much potential and to outbox the Olympic Champ, takes some doing.

Regardless of how Degale fought, he lacked imagination and the ability to turn it around, just doing the same things over and over again.

Close fight and if it went Degale's way. no one could really argue, but it didn't and it was a fair result.

Degale has nothing that will benefit Groves now, not title, lower ranking and and a loss to him.

Give it a few years and then they can go again. Groves is going to get better by then, so I am not convinced Degale would win even then.

My feeling is that people are massively overplaying the quality of George's performance; he was disciplined and followed Booth's game plan from first bell til last. However, in many respects it was an unambitious and in some ways a fearful performance.

I'd have liked to have seen him frustrate James early before stepping things up to build a more conclusive victory, rather than leaving things to chance (to me it was a draw). It's a moot point as he got the result but he was lucky in some respects (I don't think three American judges would've given him the fight).

He just beat an unbeaten Olympic gold medallist over 12 rounds and boxed very well, and still people complain and say he should have done it another way?

And you want it to have been more conclusive?

90% of Boxrec posters had DeGale beating him beforehand; he didn't. I had Groves by two and it could have been 3/4 had DeGale had points off for use of the elbow and forearm.

This place is getting worse!