George Groves Interview

[Boxerbeetle]

Groves comes across quite a bit better in this interview than he did in his recent BN interview:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/j ... tle-fights

[stevedoc]

I like groves he's honest I find and I hope Shane can get the best out of him

[jamiem26]

Almost felt a bit sorry for him reading that!

[Stevieb8006]

Hard done by groves talking about how hard done by he is. Thats new.

It made me want some scrambled eggs tho

[black panther]

If his work seems forced (it hasn't flowed since the first Froch fight) in his next few fights, I'd consider retiring if I was him. He's made some good money; not enough to retire on these days but if he's invested well he can be comfortable while he find another occupation. He would actually make quite a good pundit I feel.

[azzman]

He wasn't very complementary about Fitzpatrick. Is he that bad a trainer?

[stevedoc]

He wasn't very complementary about Fitzpatrick. Is he that bad a trainer?

Paddy had never been a head trained before groves he had been around good gyms helping out but that's not the same as being the main man. I guess if paddy was telling groves he was up vs jack that would be a big mistake he should of be telling George he needed the last rounds not to cruise it

[Boxerbeetle]

He wasn't very complementary about Fitzpatrick. Is he that bad a trainer?

Paddy had never been a head trained before groves he had been around good gyms helping out but that's not the same as being the main man. I guess if paddy was telling groves he was up vs jack that would be a big mistake he should of be telling George he needed the last rounds not to cruise it

The advice Paddy was giving to Groves between rounds in the Jack fight was utter crap, quite a few on here (including me) mentioned it after the fight.

[big lennox]

I thought that Groves and Haye were friends, but this interview implies that they are not close e.g. there is no animosity between us, which is very different from saying ' we get on really well".

[danamba7]

I thought that Groves and Haye were friends, but this interview implies that they are not close e.g. there is no animosity between us, which is very different from saying ' we get on really well".

Groves doesn't seem to be close to anyone in boxing. Strange in that way. You'd think he'd have a decent friendship with someone he trained with for years and shared a similar style with.

[Black Sam Bellamy]

If he gets caught on the chin, will it matter who the trainer is ? Don't think so, his punch resistance looks to be on the wane.

[lefty]

Almost felt a bit sorry for him reading that!

It was pretty depressing reading to be honest. He spoke like he was 60 and close to pegging it.

[leejonesjnr]

If he gets caught on the chin, will it matter who the trainer is ? Don't think so, his punch resistance looks to be on the wane.

The right trainer will drastically reduce the chance of that happening. Khan for example.

[whiskey]

If he gets caught on the chin, will it matter who the trainer is ? Don't think so, his punch resistance looks to be on the wane.

The right trainer will drastically reduce the chance of that happening. Khan for example.

Got dropped by Limmond, Gomez, etc - sacked Oliver.

Flattened by Prescott - sacked Jorge Rubio

Flattened by Garcia - sacked Roach

Just because he's not been flattened yet again (Julio Diaz dropped him) doesn't mean Virgil Hunter has fixed anything.

If i was going to use any example it would be Wladimir Klitschko / Emmanuel Steward to be fair. But that is a rare example of a successful rebuild.

[palooka]

Almost felt a bit sorry for him reading that!

It was pretty depressing reading to be honest. He spoke like he was 60 and close to pegging it.

Though he's only 27 he's been boxing for a long, long time - I'm knackered and don't have to train hard 3 times a day.

[leejonesjnr]

If he gets caught on the chin, will it matter who the trainer is ? Don't think so, his punch resistance looks to be on the wane.

The right trainer will drastically reduce the chance of that happening. Khan for example.

Got dropped by Limmond, Gomez, etc - sacked Oliver.

Flattened by Prescott - sacked Jorge Rubio

Flattened by Garcia - sacked Roach

Just because he's not been flattened yet again (Julio Diaz dropped him) doesn't mean Virgil Hunter has fixed anything.

If i was going to use any example it would be Wladimir Klitschko / Emmanuel Steward to be fair. But that is a rare example of a successful rebuild.

Khan hasn't been rebuilt, he has worked on and improved his defence. If Khan was the finished article when he boxed Michael Gomez or Willie Limmond then he would never have made it to the stage that he has.
Wlad did an extraordinary job to come back and dominate the way that he did, that is why I am not as quick as many on here to write off a boxer after a loss of two.

[freddydoesdallas]

Still comes across as a bit of a nob to me. He was happy to wind Froch up and make a pudendum out of him while trying to turn people against him yet it goes back to bite him and people are out of order. He did the same to the Olympic champion in their title fight although DeGale was also acting at pratt at that point.

He needs to stop whining and playing the blame game. He's had more opportunities than he's deserved so far and will probably get another if he wins this fight. He's also going to have a nice amount of cash in his bank which will hopefully set him and his family up for life

[whiskey]

Latest interview by George with IFLTV.

Spoiler alert: It was all paddy's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzrGFvytbY

[rhino222]

good words from the now pariah george groves, the photo however is a perculiar one......a right hand jab? it looks more like a truck flattening backhand to me!!

[danamba7]

Latest interview by George with IFLTV.

Spoiler alert: It was all paddy's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzrGFvytbY

Watched this last night. Painful. The lad just cannot accept he wasn't good enough.

[big lennox]

Latest interview by George with IFLTV.

Spoiler alert: It was all paddy's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzrGFvytbY

Aside from being poor form critising former trainers in public, he doesn't address the fact that it was him making mistakes in the ring and geting hit. Whilst he seems to recover from a knockdown very quickly (even the Froch rematch he was up much quicker than most people if they have been felled by that shot), it is alarming the way he gets knocked over so easy -a bit like David Price.

I wish him well, and I hope he boxes smartly and with more confidence, as he does have a lot of ability. However, if he keeps on getting tagged and hurt, then he shoudl think about doing something else..

[MarkMcBurney]

Latest interview by George with IFLTV.

Spoiler alert: It was all paddy's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzrGFvytbY

Aside from being poor form critising former trainers in public, he doesn't address the fact that it was him making mistakes in the ring and geting hit. Whilst he seems to recover from a knockdown very quickly (even the Froch rematch he was up much quicker than most people if they have been felled by that shot), it is alarming the way he gets knocked over so easy -a bit like David Price.

I wish him well, and I hope he boxes smartly and with more confidence, as he does have a lot of ability. However, if he keeps on getting tagged and hurt, then he shoudl think about doing something else..

I think (hope) it's a confidence issue with him. He has one of the better jabs in boxing but when he's not confident to work behind it for fear of being tagged, he's not the same explosive fighter he was with Adam Booth. Hopefully he gets that confidence back as in the first Froch fight, which presumably was more Booth than anyone for his training/gameplan in the run up to it, his footwork was exceptional, and he dominated the jab exchanges and got in and out nice and quickly.

If he can get back to that, he can be a real force in the division, and fighting like he did in the first fight, he has Degale's number IMO, I think Degale will always struggle against a good jab with good footwork as he likes to admire his work a bit too much for my liking.

Looking forward to Saturday, I rate Shane McGuigan highly so it'll be interesting to see the effect he's had on George.

[lefty]

Latest interview by George with IFLTV.

Spoiler alert: It was all paddy's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnzrGFvytbY

Aside from being poor form critising former trainers in public, he doesn't address the fact that it was him making mistakes in the ring and geting hit. Whilst he seems to recover from a knockdown very quickly (even the Froch rematch he was up much quicker than most people if they have been felled by that shot), it is alarming the way he gets knocked over so easy -a bit like David Price.

I wish him well, and I hope he boxes smartly and with more confidence, as he does have a lot of ability. However, if he keeps on getting tagged and hurt, then he shoudl think about doing something else..

I think (hope) it's a confidence issue with him. He has one of the better jabs in boxing but when he's not confident to work behind it for fear of being tagged, he's not the same explosive fighter he was with Adam Booth. Hopefully he gets that confidence back as in the first Froch fight, which presumably was more Booth than anyone for his training/gameplan in the run up to it, his footwork was exceptional, and he dominated the jab exchanges and got in and out nice and quickly.

If he can get back to that, he can be a real force in the division, and fighting like he did in the first fight, he has Degale's number IMO, I think Degale will always struggle against a good jab with good footwork as he likes to admire his work a bit too much for my liking.

Looking forward to Saturday, I rate Shane McGuigan highly so it'll be interesting to see the effect he's had on George.

Whilst I dont think Groves can blame it all on Paddy, I do think his style was changed for the worse. He started boxing with his gloves held high and became more of a volume puncher versus a sharp shooter like he was under Booth. I don't think it suited him.

[Bodyshot3]

Think it would be interesting for the media to get Fitzpatrick's side of the story...just for some balance.

George's stoppiness must make him a hard man to work with; times have changed but can't help thinking that someone like George Francis would have kept him on the straight and narrow. "You can yap to the press when you've become a champion, not before."

If Shane can turn this partcular ship around we'll know that he's a trainer with real range.

[Horse]

Why did he pick Fitzpatrick in the first place?

If Fitzpatrick did a bad job then it is still Groves' fault for picking him as a trainer.