By Terence Dooley
Super middleweight contender George Groves has parted company with Frank Warren and hooked up with Eddie Hearn. Groves was due to fight on Warren's March 16 show at London's Wembley Arena, but will instead join Matchroom's stable. The 24-year-old will now fight on Hearn's March 9 "London's Calling" card, which takes place at Wembley Arena and is headlined by Darren Barker's vacant IBF Inter-Continental middleweight title fight with Simone Rotolo.
Adam Booth, the trainer of Groves, has exclusively told BoxingScene.com that the decision was made and received amicably. "It is George's decision to take his career in a different direction." said Booth. "It is a relatively short-term decision that both myself and Frank Warren have discussed. The personal relationship between George Groves and Frank Warren is a healthy one, and we'd like it to remain that way. We are grateful to Frank for the big fights George has had that have been promoted by Frank, and we want to quash all of these rumours that seem to be flying around in regards to the change of direction to George's career."
Former British and current Commonwealth 168lb champion Groves, 16-0 (12), joined Warren on a reputed three-year deal in 2011 and has had three wins under Warren's stewardship — Paul Smith (KO 2), Francisco Sierra (TKO 6) and Glen Johnson (W12) respectively. Groves will now feature on the undercard of Carl Froch versus Mikkel Kessler on May 25; he could present "The Cobra" with a ready-made comeback fight should Froch lose to his Danish rival.
BoxingScene would also like to apologise unreservedly to Mr. Warren for the inaccurate comments made in our original article in regards to Groves's decision to part company with Warren and the reasons behind that decision. These reasons have now been fully outlined by Adam Booth.
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