By Frank Warren
I feel a little sorry for George Groves. His split decision defeat by Badou Jack was a result that could have gone either way and had he not been fighting one of Floyd Mayweather’s men in Las Vegas he might be WBC champion today. But it wasn’t a robbery.
George gambled-and lost. He did not play his cards right and probably paid the price for that first round knock-down and not being quite positive enough.
I can’t help wondering if he would have been better off taking the offer we made for him fight the Russian WBA super middleweight champion Fedor Chudinov at Wembley. But he insisted he wanted to go down the WBC route.
On home turf he surely would have had a better chance he did in Vegas.
As I said last week, he was at the crossroads of his career and it is hard to envisage which direction he must take now.
At 27 he still has some good boxing years ahead of him and he is a resolute young man who keeps himself in shape. He’ll get work, if he wants it.
But the likelihood of his bitter rival James DeGale giving him an early crack at the IBF belt, even though they have unfinished business, is remote. Unless Groves is prepared to accept a comparative pittance.
A return with Badou seems equally unlikely as a Badou-DeGale unification scrap is already mooted and there is no chance of a quick shot at the winner of our upcoming WBA title fight between Chudinov and Frank Buglioni at Wembley on Saturday week as whoever emerges as victor is committed to a defence against Felix Sturm.
I am afraid that Groves must accept that he is out of the swim at the moment and needs to tread water for a while. Just as long as he keeps his head above it then he’ll probably get another chance.
