By Keith Idec
George Groves announced Monday morning that he would undergo shoulder surgery.
The procedure caused the WBA/IBO super middleweight champion to postpone his World Boxing Super Series super middleweight final against Callum Smith until at least July. London’s Groves (28-3, 20 KOs) was scheduled to battle Liverpool’s Smith (24-0, 17 KOs) for his two titles and the WBSS’ Muhammad Ali trophy June 2 at O2 Arena in London.
Groves revealed the surgery and the postponement of the Smith match through his Twitter account.
“Morning boxing fans,” Groves stated. “This morning I go in for a minor operation on my injured shoulder. The good news is I’ll be fit to fight in July. We will be applying to the @WBSuperSeries for a one month extension and are hopeful of securing this. #TeamSGG.”
Groves, 29, hinted that there was something significantly wrong with his left shoulder in the ring following Smith’s unanimous-decision victory over the Netherlands’ Nieky Holzken (13-1, 10 KOs) in the other WBSS semifinal Saturday night in Nuremberg, Germany.
The injury occurred during the final round of Groves’ 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat of England’s Chris Eubank Jr. (26-2, 20 KOs) in their WBSS semifinal February 17 in Manchester, England. Groves said Saturday that he dislocated his shoulder, which required a doctor to pop his shoulder back in place.
Following Smith’s win Saturday, Groves said, “I am extremely confident that I’ll be more than fit to fight in the final against Callum Smith. I have to be, because I’ve had two great wins so far, Callum likewise. This is the fight people wanna see. I’m WBA champion; I’m No. 1 seed. I need to now go in there and win that trophy.”
Before beating Eubank in a much-anticipated domestic clash, Groves knocked out another British boxer, Jamie Cox, in the fourth round of their WBSS quarterfinal October 14 in London.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
