On Saturday evening, after guiding his fighter Lucas Roehrig to his sixth professional victory, George Groves returned to their changing room to watch the bare-knuckle contest of his long-term rival James DeGale.
Carl Froch is the opponent with which he will forever most be associated but it is with his fellow west Londoner DeGale – like Groves of the Dale Youth Amateur Boxing Club – he shares the longest history and with who, unlike with Froch, a tension persists.
Roehrig, the 22-year-old cruiserweight, also learned to box at Dale Youth ABC. His promise tempted Groves into first management and then to be his trainer, and his progress is such that Groves is committed to spending much of the remainder of 2025 in the gym.
It is on November 21, on a Wasserman promotion in Brighton expected to be headlined by Harlem Eubank, when Roehrig expects to fight again. Saturday’s victory at London’s York Hall over Vladimir Belujsky of Slovakia was his fifth of 2025; if he negotiates November 21 similarly convincingly – Belujsky didn’t make it beyond the fourth of six rounds – he and Groves hope that he will feature in a seventh.
There exists a subtle enthusiasm in Roehrig that in so many ways resembles that of his mentor in the first years of his fighting career. By the time he was preparing for his final fight – with Callum Smith in 2018 – Groves was weary beyond almost recognition. The rivalry with Froch, his being self-managed and therefore the draining nature of combining the business with training and fighting had transformed him forever, but in 2025 his understanding of that business and of fighting and of his own need for a purpose contribute to Roehrig being in good hands.
“I’m going back to past memories of myself as a fighter and thinking about what I was doing at this stage of my career – what’s the next part of the process,” he told BoxingScene. “By the time I was self-managed I was fighting for world titles, and I signed with the Sauerland brothers [Nisse and Kalle] who were my promoters but shouldered a lot of the managerial burden. I’m doing everything with Lucas right now. Sometimes you don’t plan too far ahead.
“We’re in this process of developing as a prospect – that will be [fighting] up to eight rounds. ‘I need to improve his fitness.’ He’s put on a bit of size; he’s pretty lean for a cruiserweight. He’s moved up from 86kgs to 90.7kgs; he’s not quite there yet. Month to month, something different comes up; something might get exposed in the gym. ‘Okay, now’s the time to knuckle down on that.’ I’m on his case; I’m putting the effort in big time and putting the energy into being on the case. I know I’m learning as I go along, but I’m enjoying it. I hope I’m already experienced as a fighter and I can put that in as a trainer. Anything I haven’t experienced as a fighter, I’m here to learn and think about.
“I was very pleased with his performance [on Saturday]. You get past that point of being a pro prospect. You talk about settling down in the pros; about the fights being slower. But it’s not necessarily slower, it’s calmer – [and] there was a calmness to him.
“He’s been training as a pro for 18-plus months now. He stuck to instructions; the first round was the best first round he’s had as a professional. He took no shots; he came out, solid jab; controlled the distance; controlled the timing; everything he needed to win a battle and build from there. The opponent, in some ways, was made for him, but only if you’re doing the right thing. He broke him up and made him quit after four rounds. He’s called ‘Lights Out’ Roehrig; he’s yet to have a lights-out moment but maybe that’ll come against opponents who are a little bit more dangerous, but where the opportunity’s there to nail ‘em. I was very pleased.”
Despite, like Groves – and indeed DeGale – living in London, Roehrig, under Groves’ instructions, stayed in a hotel close to York Hall. Groves didn’t want him to risk being late or arriving too early and waiting for hours in his pre-fight changing room. Groves and his fellow cornerman Luke Ramos joined him on fight night, and in preparation for the better quality of opponent they anticipate on November 21 they will imminently return to the gym.
“Regardless we’d be in there training – that’s what a pro these days should be doing, whether they’ve got a fight coming up or not,” he said. “I’m doing all the boxing training and the bulk of the conditioning and I’m enjoying it. He’s a positive influence on my kids; he’s a fast learner; I’ve got two young boys, they understand a little more about me; they see he’s training and training hard. I’ve always got to remind them ‘You think that’s hard – wait ‘till you see what he’s got to come’.
“I was fortunate enough to be ringside, commentating on fights – punditry and media opportunities – hopefully doing a good job, but that don’t always last forever. Ex-fighters usually get a run – maybe my time’s coming to an end. I hope not.
“As a pundit for the last six, seven years I’ve been ringside thinking ‘That’s not how I’d do it; this has got to be better’. I’ll always be ‘Head back, sit on the back leg and you’ll punch hard’, and then you’ll watch Daniel Dubois go on the front leg and knock Anthony Joshua spark out.
“I like covering all bases – it was a natural move for me to move into coaching, especially with Lucas being from my amateur club and knowing him; knowing his personality and that I can make a difference. We’ll be in the gym, working hard, and keeping busy. That’s how it is – that’s how it should be. I knew that when I was taking this job on. You’ve got to be all in.”
The visibility Groves describes is in contrast to DeGale, who since losing to Chris Eubank Jnr in 2019 had close to vanished. The Olympic gold medallist and two-time super-middleweight world champion appeared content in retirement until the lamentable Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship tempted him to return and matched him with Australia’s Matt Floyd in Manchester in what proved a low-quality, foul-filled affair.
DeGale, aged 39, confirmed on Sunday morning he sees no future for himself in bare-knuckle boxing. The statement released on his behalf, however, suggested he regardless may yet box again in a professional ring.
“People are saying to me ‘Are you going to fight James?’,” said Groves, 37. “‘Love to – I’d absolutely love to.’ But until someone says to me ‘This is how much you’re going to get paid, and these are the terms of the agreement’, I ain’t going for a run.
“I’m not sure whether he was hoping for that. Hopefully he got paid well for it. The fight was awful – I watched it in the changing room after Lucas’ fight; holding; head-butts; it wasn’t pretty on the eye. Whether he’s got a future in that or not I hope he doesn’t get hurt; suffer any lasting damage from it.
“I assume what he really wants is to get on some massive cards – influencer, big names, there’s money there – good luck to him. But it’s difficult for him to go down that road. Some might do it. But any fighter who says they’re fighting for anything other than money, I don’t believe them for one second. They’re not even chasing the high of being the man in the arena. James DeGale’s an Olympic champion; James DeGale’s fought for world titles in boxing; in pay-per-view events.
“Fighting some wally who wanted to get himself disqualified in a bareknuckle boxing match on a subscription channel somewhere don’t tick that box for him. I wish him well, but I don’t see a future in it.”
“You have to realise that you’ve had your time and you had to have enjoyed it,” he then responded when asked if training Roehrig had filled for him the void that DeGale is perhaps confronting. “You can’t hang on to something; you can’t chase it forever.
“You hear about fighters struggling after boxing without that purpose. The truth of the matter is fighters should be told, plain and simple, ‘You’ve had your time, you’ve done your best, if it could have been better the same can be said for a lot of fighters but it could have been a lot worse, so don’t chase no highs; find something else to occupy your time but do not think about fighting’.
“It’s undoing a lot of good memories for a lot of people, in my opinion. There’ll be a generation of people who know who Mike Tyson is and watched the Jake Paul fight. They’re never, ever going to go back through the archives and watch him beat Larry Holmes. Sometimes you have to leave things be.
“There’s a massive financial incentive there – I get it. That is a legitimate reason, as long as there’s not going to be any lasting damage. If you’re chasing a high, find something else. We all get past our best and all have better days. There’s nothing wrong with that; there’s no shame in that.”
