This one might get fight fans talking and perhaps arguing. George Groves, who reigned as WBA super middleweight champ during his career, “The Saint,” finally winning the big one at the fourth attempt after losing twice to Carl Froch and to Badou Jack, has stated how he fully believes he would have beaten Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez had he fought him.
Groves, who stopped Fedor Chudinov in May of 2017 to claim the WBA belt, with him making two retentions before being stopped by Callum Smith and retiring from the sport in 2018, says he was “unstoppable at super middleweight” and that he would have dealt Canelo a loss.
Speaking with Grosvenor Casinos, Groves, who retired with a 28-4(20) record, points to the blueprint light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol used to defeat Canelo in explaining how he himself would have beaten Canelo.
“I was unstoppable at super middleweight; you can’t deny Canelo is a force, but [Dmitry] Bivol showed you a blueprint on how to beat him,” Groves said. “You can’t go in there and be reckless; you have to be measured like Bivol was. I was good with my feet, good with my straight shots, and I wouldn’t let Canelo close the distance, and I wouldn’t linger on the ropes, and it would have been my hardest fight if it had happened, but there’s no way I wouldn’t have dealt Canelo a loss.”
While some fans may agree with Groves here, there is a great chance plenty more will not. The Groves who battled Froch the first time (being the victim of a premature stoppage in the opinion of many, this is a great fight that saw Groves deck Froch heavily in the opening round) would have been a very interesting opponent for Canelo. But the Groves, who was stopped in the rematch, and the Groves, who was stopped by Smith in what turned out to be his last fight, would surely have been overwhelmed by Canelo.
Of course all fighters, even after they’ve retired, remain in possession of a healthy ego, with them believing in their (fighting) heart that they would have beaten this fighter and that fighter had they squared off. And Groves is no different. It would have been a good fight, the prime Groves against the current version of Canelo, who has lost a step or two, and maybe this version of Canelo is the one Groves is referring to.
But Canelo, currently 60-2-2(39) has never lost at 168 pounds, and the thinking here is the Mexican warrior would have stopped Groves late. What do YOU guys think?