Groves with tough task in facing Anthony Dirrell, says Froch

By Bill Phanco - 01/12/2015 - Comments

IBF/WBA super middleweight champ Carl Froch sees a tough road for his recent knockout victim George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) if and when he faces WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (27-0-1, 22 KOs) in the United States. Froch thinks that the 26-year-old Groves could have problems if he fights Dirrell in the U.S, although it’s hard to see why it would be any different than it would be if the fight were to take place elsewhere.

Groves doesn’t have to fight Dirrell in order to get a title shot. He can wait until Froch gives up his IBF title, and then face James DeGale for the vacant strap or look to fight the winner of DeGale vs. Andre Dirrell for the title.

Either way, it’s going to be a tough situation for Groves, because he’ll be facing the likes of Anthony Dirrell, Andre Dirrell or DeGale. None of them are easy outs.

“If Groves wants to fulfill his WBC title dream then he is going to have to travel to America, but it is a very, very tough ask for him to go over there against somebody like Anthony Dirrell and I am basing that on his current form,” Froch said via Sky Sports.

At this point with the way that Groves has been looking in his last four fights, I don’t think it’ll matter where he faces Anthony Dirrell. They can put that fight in Groves’ back yard with his parents as the judges and his other family members acting as the referee, and I still see Groves getting knocked out fairly quickly by Dirrell.

Groves seems to have a major chin problem, as we’ve seen in his two knockout losses to Froch. Dirrell might not have quite as much power as Froch, but his power is close enough to Froch’s to give Groves major problems. In some ways, I think Dirrell is a better puncher than Froch because he’s much faster and he’s a lot more accurate with his shots.

If you watch some of Dirrell’s past fights, he doesn’t miss often with his power shots, and he hits very, very hard. With a KO percentage of 78.57, Dirrell would be a very dangerous fighter for a guy like Groves. Even if Groves plays it safe for 6 or 7 rounds, Dirrell is going to connect with something big sooner or later when Groves tries to mix it up, and that’ll probably be it for Groves.