Martin Murray says George Groves got his name from losing twice to Carl Froch – and believes he’ll look to shift the blame when he beats him in their clash for the WBA International Super-Middleweight title clash at The O2 on Saturday June 25, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Murray believes Groves is too focused on being the ‘a-side’ of their battle, rather than focusing on the fight itself, as the Brit rivals look to move into line for a crack at the World title in the second half of the year.
The St Helens star has fought the best of the best over the last five years in World title fights, meeting Gennady Golovkin, Sergio Martinez and Felix Sturm in his Middleweight World title battles and tackling Arthur Abraham at 168lbs for the WBO World Super-Middleweight crown.
Groves holds three losses in World title scraps – twice at the hands of Carl Froch and most recently against Badou Jack in Las Vegas for the WBA title – and in their ‘Gloves Are Off’ head-to-head on Sky Sports 1 at 10.30pm tonight, Murray says his resume at elite level outshines Groves’ and that the Hammersmith man passes the buck when he loses.
“I’ve been in bigger fights than him all over the world against better opposition,” said Murray. “The fact that his name comes first means nothing to me – I’m a 33 year old grown man, how’s that going to bother me?
“He got his name by losing twice to Carl Froch and that’s how he’s the a-side. If I’m not established enough as a World class fighter as it stands now, I’m going to get it when I beat George, even though I’ve been in the bigger and tougher fights than him, that’s the way it is. He thinks that the 80,000 tickets at Wembley were down to him, nothing to do with Carl.
“I don’t think he should’ve left Adam Booth. He finds it easy to pass the blame. He blamed the referee after the first Froch fight, he blamed a ‘punch from the gods’ for the second fight and blamed Paddy Fitzpatrick for the Jack loss.
“After Badou Jack I heard he was talking about retiring. He’s come back and had two fights where he’s been firing at sitting ducks where there’s been nothing coming back at him, so he’s got his confidence back now, and that makes now he thinks that this is an easy fight; but it’s not, and when it gets tough he will crumble. I want him to keep thinking that it’s easy, because he’ll find out next Saturday how wrong he is and I can’t wait to prove it.”
Murray and Groves clash on a huge night of boxing at The O2, as Anthony Joshua MBE defends his IBF World Heavyweight title against unbeaten American Dominic Breazeale.
Chris Eubank Jr defends his British Middleweight title against Welshman Tom Doran, John Wayne Hibbert clashes with Andrea Scarpa for the vacant WBC Silver Super-Lightweight title, Brixton Heavyweight Dillian Whyte returns to the fray, unbeaten Birmingham star Kal Yafai is in action, Olympic bronze medal man Anthony Ogogo continues his comeback from injury, Conor Benn fights for the third time in the paid ranks and there’s a debut for Team GB star Felix Cash.
George Groves believes he will beat Martin Murray and send him into retirement
George Groves believes he will beat Martin Murray and send him into retirement when the pair clash in an eliminator for the WBA World Super-Middleweight title at The O2 on June 25, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Groves and Murray meet on a huge night of action in the capital and ‘Saint’ George believes that with the stakes so high, their meeting could steal the show as both men look for a key win to land another World title shot.
Murray has had four World title shots – three at Middleweight and one at Super-Middleweight – and Groves has had three cracks at the big prize at 168lbs. The Londoner was quick to point out that Murray had been hand-picked for his shots, and believes he’ll dispatch the St Helens man in Greenwich and leave his career in tatters.
“I think if he loses he will think about packing it in,” said George. “I can’t speak for Martin but he’s older than me and he’s exhausted all the natural things that a fighter can do to win a World title. He didn’t pull it off at Middleweight, he’s moved up to Super- Middleweight and he’s had a crack at Arthur Abraham, and I think he let himself down there. He’s got the domestic dust-up that he’s craved and that’s what is motivating him for this fight, if he doesn’t win then I don’t know where he goes from there.
“Martin is the chosen opponent in World title fights; he gets picked as an opponent that looks good on paper but gets beat, I’ve never been that guy. Maybe Eddie Hearn, Carl Froch and Matchroom Boxing were confident in the first fight, but they didn’t want the rematch. We had to force the IBF to get that Wembley fight, we went down the mandatory route and give no options away and had to work to get there.
“I’m the A-side of this fight but I also believe that he wanted this fight, and I wanted this fight. Martin called it a 50-50 fight then backtracked and said it wasn’t. I can understand why people might think that but I believe that I’m the heavy favourite in this one and you’ll see why on fight night.
“So many big things are going to come out of this fight for me. I’m back in London again, I can sleep in my own bed the night before, it’s another training camp with Shane, and this is a fight that he can get his teeth into. He’s working at the highest level with Carl Frampton so this is a big fight for him too.
“I think that this fight could have sold The O2 out on it’s own, it’s the type of fight that fight fans want to see and it’s going to pull in casual fans too.
“You will see improvements from me. People will be watching to see what I have got left and what Martin has got left, and the winner goes on to take all I hope. I believe I have an awful lot left to give and achieve in boxing and I don’t want to fall at the first hurdle against Martin.”
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Martin Murray has warned George Groves he’s going to drag him into deep waters and make him crumble when they face-off in an eliminator for the WBA World Super-Middleweight title at The O2 on June 25, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Murray and Groves meet in a huge domestic crossroads clash that puts the winner in line for a crack to land another World title shot, and for the St Helens ace, it’s the all-British showdown that he’s craved throughout his career.
Murray believes his stamina and work-rate will prove to be the difference in the bout against the Londoner and says he’ll force ‘Saint’ George to crumble late in the fight.
“I train for fights to go all the way and take my opponents into deep waters,” said Murray. “I’ve shown that I have got a good engine and can sustain a good work rate over 12 rounds. George has stamina issues, that’s well known, the fight favours me late on with him fading and my high work rate over 12 rounds, but it favours him early with his power and I know that, and it makes for an exciting fight.
“I have one of the best defences in world boxing, I’ve been in with better fighters than George who have not been able to get rid of me and I am that confident in this fight that the only way he can beat me is if I lose concentration and get caught with something stupid early.
“He was clinically beaten by Carl Froch and those defeats took a lot out of him. He hasn’t had a fight that hard since and on June 25 he’s going to be in a real fight. When it gets hard for him, psychologically it’s going to be tough. I will break him and he will crumble.”
Murray and Groves clash on a huge night of boxing at The O2, as Anthony Joshua MBE defends his IBF World Heavyweight title against unbeaten American Dominic Breazeale.
Chris Eubank Jr defends his British Middleweight title against Welshman Tom Doran, John Wayne Hibbert clashes with Andrea Scarpa for the vacant WBC Silver Super-Lightweight title, Brixton Heavyweight Dillian Whyte returns to the fray, Conor Benn is in action for the third time in the paid ranks and there’s a debut for Team GB star Felix Cash.