IF Callum Smith can defeat Juergen Braehmer on Saturday (February 24) in Nuremberg, he will be in line to fight WBA super-middleweight champion George Groves in the final of the World Boxing Super Series.
Focused on his up coming contest, Smith has dwelt little on Groves and did not attend yesterday’s fight with Chris Eubank Jr at the Manchester Arena.
On Groves, Smith commented, “We’d have to sit down with Joe [Gallagher, his trainer] and watch a lot more of him. There’s watching someone as a boxing fan but when you’re potentially fighting them you watch them a little bit different. He’s good, he’s dangerous, he’s got a good jab. He’s very heavy handed, he’s got good movement.”
“He’s got vulnerabilities. If you hit him, he shows he can be hurt,” Smith also reckoned. He believes his advantages are resilience and stamina. “He’s a big super-middleweight but I don’t think he has that size advantage over me. It’s a completely different match up, me v him, than him v Eubank. It’s different. I think he said in an interview we both possess different problems. It’s been talked about a while, me v Groves. I think I was asked to fight him when he was mandatory for the WBC and then he was asked to fight me when I was mandatory and it hasn’t happened. If it does happen in the final for a world title, I think that’s probably the best time for it to have happened,” Smith continued.
“As a potential opponent, I’m looking forward to it, but even regardless of that I do think he is a good fighter. I think hats off to the World Boxing Super Series, it has put the best v the best in both weight categories. There should be more of it boxing.”
The stakes for Smith when he travels to Germany therefore are high. “A win against Juergen Braehmer puts me in the mix,” he said, “it puts me in big fights, which is what I turned pro for.”
