George Groves on fighting Chris Eubank Jr

George Groves

GEORGE GROVES has been linked unexpectedly with Chris Eubank Jr, even though the idea never solidified into serious talks.

โ€œI like Chris Eubank but at the end of day heโ€™s a middleweight who rightly or wrongly is notorious for pulling out of fights with middleweights. So I certainly I wasnโ€™t ready or prepared to sign up to fight,โ€ Groves said. โ€œSo there was a lot of gaping holes in the offer that was made to us. It wasnโ€™t from Eubank, it was from a separate promoter.

โ€œItโ€™s a fight that Iโ€™d love to take, I think it would be good for both of us. I think itโ€™s a fight Iโ€™d win but it wasnโ€™t right for us right now. But itโ€™s certainly a fight that could happen down the line. People already seem pretty excited about it and nothingโ€™s close to being signed. So itโ€™s an option for the future.โ€

Eubank would have to come up to Grovesโ€™ division thought. โ€œIโ€™m a super-middleweight, I wouldnโ€™t sacrifice anything to get any lower than 168lbs. I donโ€™t need to. My division is good enough as it is, there are big fights out there for me, domestically and internationally and thereโ€™s big fights for me if I want to go up a weight. Iโ€™d much rather go up than down,โ€ George continued.

He is fighting next on November 18 against Eduard Gutknecht at Wembley Arena, a bout that will be screen on Channel Five.

โ€œBoxing on Channel 5 I think is just the right thing,โ€ Groves said. โ€œWhen the time comes for me to win a world title and defend it, Iโ€™ll make some waves. Fighting on terrestrial TV now, weโ€™re going to put on a good show. It wonโ€™t be all razzmatazz and no boxing, it wonโ€™t be just boxing and no glitz and glamour to go with it. Weโ€™ll deliver the full package to get people excited about boxing again.โ€

His path to a world title has not run smooth but he has an International strap from the WBA and is highly placed in their super-middleweight rankings, although that body currently has both a โ€˜regularโ€™ world title and a Super world title. โ€œThe WBA theyโ€™ve got two world champions and theyโ€™re looking to make that one world champion, doing that across all weight divisions. [Giovanni] Di Carolis versus [Tyron] Zeuge is happening again [for the regular strap] because the first fight was a draw. They want to make me versus Chudinov and then the winner of us two fights the winner of them two. Thatโ€™s the logical way to create a little tournament and it will create excitement as well.โ€

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