By Jake Donovan

Badou Jack and George Groves are both supremely confident ahead of their upcoming super middleweight title fight, which takes place September 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The bout will serve in supporting capacity to Floyd Mayweather’s World welterweight championship defense versus Andre Berto. That status came about after a drastic change in plans that originally had Jack and Groves headlining an August 22 card at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

In training for a fight, pushing back the date by three weeks can serve as a major hindrance. Despite the shift, both fighters were able to make the necessary adjustments to guard against overtraining.

“It didn’t affect me at all, in fact I had more time to get stronger and to get better prepared,” insists Jack (19-1-1, 12KOs), who makes the first defense of the belt he claimed in a major upset win over Anthony Dirrell earlier this year. “We would have been ready to go on August 22; we’re now even more ready for September 12.”

Groves’ two career losses also came in title challenges, both resulting in stoppage losses to Carl Froch. He has since won two straight in establishing himself as the mandatory challenger.

Upon the initial fight announcement, Groves (21-2, 16KOs) immediately organized a training camp in Big Bear, California, thousands of miles away from his home in London, England. The 27-year old Brit has been stateside since mid-July, but from the beginning has been prepared for a potential change in game days.

“It was an interesting; I saw an interview saying a day or two after Badou Jack won the title stating he wanted his first defense on the undercard of Mayweather’s next Pay-Per-View,” Groves recalled. “We had it in the back of our mind all along that the date would change.

“Even when the fight was announced for August 22 and Showtime’s press team asked us for quotes, we knew it was going to be September 12. The nature of Mayweather Promotions announcing fights pretty late in the promotion, we figured the date would change. We were set to come out here for either date. We were ready for August 22, but so be it. We will be even more focused for the fight.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox

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