Promoter Frank Warren may be forced to move on and make a new match for James DeGale in December as the clock continued to wind down on a positive response from George Grove and his manager Adam Booth to accept or decline his offer.
On Monday (20th September) Warren sent a formal offer to Adam Booth at 12:58hrs offering Groves a fight against Olympic Champion DeGale on December 11 in London..
The offer made to Groves was for £50,000 – with no options attached – which would be his biggest pay-day to date.
Booth made an uninvited counter-offer, but it fell far short of the lowest purse DeGale has ever received since turning pro after claiming Olympic Gold.
Warren said, “Booth and Groves have been calling out for this fight for over a year now and have enjoyed courting the media and telling them of their efforts to make it happen,”
“DeGale is a much bigger name and higher profile boxer than George Groves and if both walked down the street, it would be DeGale whom the public would recognise – a fact that Booth himself has acknowledged,”
“In addition, DeGale has constantly boxed on huge shows and in big arenas whereas Groves has not and his profile only exists due to his past associations with James DeGale,”
“The fact is, Groves needs DeGale much more than DeGale needs Groves and if he wants to steal James’ mantle then he has the opportunity to do it on my show on December 11,”
“Booth said that he has never publicly called for the fight to happen, but he has forgotten that he called out DeGale in February to meet Groves on the David Haye-John Ruiz undercard, saying: “This is the fight George wants to take now, as he’s desperate to prove a point against DeGale.”
“If he’s serious, he’ll take it as the offer I made as it is his biggest payday by far.”
“If Groves does not want the fight then he should stop using DeGale’s name to publicise himself in the same way that Dave Haye did by calling out the Klitschko brothers,”
*Please go on the link below for articles where Groves has called out DeGale*
http://www.frankwarren.tv/articles.pdf