BoxRec

As stiff and basic Jr was he was a very tough man with a lot of heart. Both men gave all in the ring and put a great fight!

Absolutely he was. Eubank Jr may yet learn a lot from this - he was in uncharted waters from round 3 on.

Whilst it was frustrating to watch I have to concede that Groves was impressive in the way he tied up Eubank Jr very time he got close up, a few years ago he'd been more likely to mix it up a not more. I guess he's learnt the hard way.

Styles make fights and great fighters don't become bums overnight. David Lemieux in his last fight didn't suddenly become a bum, and against most fighters would still be a major threat. Groves isn't suddenly unbeatable, all fight he was ridiculously open to wild left hooks. In the end he did enough to get by.

Eubank Jr will have to figure a way to increase his accuracy, a bit like GGG has to against Canelo if he wants to make the judging redundant in future.

Kudos for Groves ! He deserved respect !

Groves worked him out easy, Eubank jnr doesn't seem to have a clue how to structure a fight, theres no method to anything he does, he needs to go back and work on the fundamentals

littlepug wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 09:34 Groves worked him out easy, Eubank jnr doesn't seem to have a clue how to structure a fight, theres no method to anything he does, he needs to go back and work on the fundamentals

He'll probably have to be open for advice. Listening to others is reportedly not Eubank's thing.

Eubank Sr probably is thinking they don't have to hire a good boxing trainer because "the first dollar that drops should be to Jr".

Big Groves fan. I feel he's an unappreciated British great.

Ezzard wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 14:28 Big Groves fan. I feel he's an unappreciated British great.

Really. Do others in the UK feel the same? A great?

I guess the 2 KO defeats to Froch take most of the shine off him for me. And while Jack is certainly a decent enough fighter, I think a great beats him convincingly.

Jack's the underdog to an aging, oft-inactive Stevenson.

And to me, the scalps of Groves' resume are less than top shelf.

Eubank is easily Groves' best win, but if you read the critiques here, Eubank is now garbage.

Do I don't know.

Do you think Groves is in the top 10 pantheon of great British fighters? Top 20?

Well, he has two belts now and has risen to #1 SMW on boxrec.
Congratulations George

SenorPipino wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 15:41Do you think Groves is in the top 10 pantheon of great British fighters? Top 20?

I don't think that he makes the top 100 yet, but hopefully he has years left to reach that level.

Horse wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 16:36

SenorPipino wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 15:41Do you think Groves is in the top 10 pantheon of great British fighters? Top 20?

I don't think that he makes the top 100 yet, but hopefully he has years left to reach that level.

Actually he might make the top 100, but not the top 50.

SenorPipino wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 15:41

Ezzard wrote: ↑18 Feb 2018, 14:28 Big Groves fan. I feel he's an unappreciated British great.

Really. Do others in the UK feel the same? A great?

I guess the 2 KO defeats to Froch take most of the shine off him for me. And while Jack is certainly a decent enough fighter, I think a great beats him convincingly.

Jack's the underdog to an aging, oft-inactive Stevenson.

And to me, the scalps of Groves' resume are less than top shelf.

Eubank is easily Groves' best win, but if you read the critiques here, Eubank is now garbage.

Do I don't know.

Do you think Groves is in the top 10 pantheon of great British fighters? Top 20?

I think Jack beats the 40 year old, inactive version of Stevenson fairly easily. He's about to get found out, big time. Whatever he might have been a few years ago, if Stevenson were to fight every other top 10 light heavy, right now, I strongly suspect he'd lose to at least 7 of them. People are still remembering Stevenson as the fighter who iced Dawson and blasted out Bellew... that was a long time ago.

That said, I wouldn't say Groves is anywhere near a UK great, just yet. I like him, and I felt he was unlucky in the first Froch fight, but as you said, who has he really beaten?

I've always thought Froch himself was slightly overrated - should have lost to Andre Dirrell, was on the way to a wide decision loss to Jermain Taylor until the last 20 seconds, lost comprehensively to Ward, got favourable treatment from the ref in Groves 1, only beat Kessler after he'd faded... More often than not, he found a way to win, but he was unconvincing at times, and he lost when he faced the best of his peers.

Believe it or not, I was a Froch fan too...

As it happens, I didn't think Groves vs Eubank was a particularly tough fight for Groves. As much as Eubank kept trying to make it a fight, he was totally ineffective and Groves nullified almost all of what Eubank didn't smother himself. It was only Groves' injury in the final round that made it seem tougher than it really was. Of the first 11, I don't think there was a single round that Eubank won clear - I gave him a close one and scored one even (think there was one other close round I edged to Groves), scoring 118-111. Groves won 1-4, 6, 8, 10 and 11 comfortably.

It was an impressive win for Groves considering how easily he nullified Eubank. I was expecting him to struggle later on in the fight but Groves made it look relatively easy.

On the flipside Eubank has always come to fight and gives a 100%, he is tough and could bang with the best of them (albeit he isn't a huge puncher). Unfortunately for Eubank he is lacking some basic boxing fundamentals which showed against Groves. A solid chin and work-rate isn't going to be enough to beat the top level guys.. the issue for Eubank is it may be to late, he has already molded into a slugger type fighter and picked up some bad habits.

Eubank will always be a tough fight for anybody but I can't see him being a world class boxer. A slick boxer will always cause him big problems and find holes in his game. Groves really showed him up at times and it was embarrassing to see him missing from miles away.

Big props to Groves for getting the job done. He has matured since the Froch loss and has showed he is a top level operator. Groves is probably one of the best boxers in Britain fundamentally right now. He is slightly underrated IMO. He was very close to icing Froch in the first fight, and against Jack he came up just short (the decision could have easily went to Groves too).