GEORGE GROVES is targeting Sakio Bikaโs WBC super-middleweight title as he makes his return after being flattened by Carl Froch six weeks ago. The Londoner takes on Franceโs European champion Christopher Rebrasse in a final eliminator for the green belt on September 20 at the SSE Arena (Wembley Arena), spitting distance from the scene of his May 31 defeat. The WBCโs lightly-regarded Silver title will also be on the line.
Grovesโ searing confidence helped to turn his rivalry with Froch into one of British boxing historyโs most engrossing grudges, and the 26-year-old insists those two defeats โ one controversial, the other emphatic โ have done nothing to affect it.
โLast time I was here it didnโt quite go the way I hoped,โ he said with a smile about that Wembley Stadium sequel. โBut weโre back on the road and the journey will continue. Win this fight and Iโm right back in the picture, and I believe I will be world champion in the very near future.โ
Groves said he was โvery unluckyโ on both occasions against Froch.
โUltimately I approach my boxing as a high stakes gambler. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes you win big. I havenโt changed. I will be world champion. I sold the last fight [with Froch], I packaged it. I wonโt get credit for that because I got knocked out, so thatโs fair enough. I felt we were in full control but one punch ended my hopes.โ
The morning after being clattered in the eighth round, Groves sent his new promoter Kalle Sauerland a 4am text asking him to plot a route back. This fight against Rebrasse, ranked No.3 by both the IBF and the WBC, was signed just 35 minutes before Tuesdayโs (July 8) press conference to announce it. This will be the powerful German outfitโs debut show in the UK.
โGeorge has proved himself as one of the most exciting super-middleweights on the planet,โ Kalle said. โWe know we will take him to the very top. We were looking at the quickest route possible to get George a world title shot and weโre grateful to the WBC for recognising what heโs done.โ
The sun-kissed Rebrasse, 22-2-3 (6), interrupted a holiday in Bulgaria to attend the presser, and appeared without a care in the world as he promised to train hard and win.
British heavyweight David Price, also under the Sauerland banner, might feature on an undercard that is currently under construction.