Eu can’t be serious
GROVES SET TO MISS SERIES FINAL
THE World Boxing Super Series has been brilliant for the sport – so far.
But the mega-money tournament is about to make a foolish move that will call into question the entire credibility of the competition.
With George Groves struggling to be fit for the super-middleweight decider against Callum Smith this summer, Chris Eubank Jnr is being lined up to step in.
That’s the same Eubank Jnr who was clearly beaten by Groves in the semi-final back in February.
During that fight Groves sustained a dislocated shoulder which is taking longer than he had hoped to rehabilitate.
The WBA champion asked for a month delay to the original June 2 date but the organisers, Swiss-based Camosa AG, are nervous about the injury not being fully healed.
So they have put into place plans for Eubank Jnr to step in and it could be confirmed any day now.
That leaves Groves out in the cold. The tournament’s No.1 seed will exit without defeat and take his world title with him. The Londoner will miss out on a huge pay day and the chance to come out with the largest share of the £20m prize pot for the eight-man tournament which started back in September, despite being the star of the show so far.
Shake
Smith is also a loser in this situation as he entered the tournament not only for the chance to win life-changing money, but also to win a world title.
This was also an opportunity to massively increase his profile and shake off the tag of a super-middleweight name on the rise.
Beating Groves, a big star in British boxing, would have done that for him but now it looks like he will have to face Eubank Jnr. This would have been a good semi-final but a Smith win would only improve his bank balance and not his reputation as one of the world’s top super-middleweights.
That’s because Eubank Jnr is coming off a comprehensive defeat, with many feeling he would be best served dropping back down to middleweight.
Tournament organisers will argue that the event must move on, with an exciting second season of bantamweights, light-welterweights and light-heavyweights to kick off in the autumn.
They will point to how well the cruiserweight division has gone this season with some spectacular fights and all four major belts on the line when Oleksandr Usyk meets Murat Gassiev next month.
And they don’t want a repeat of the controversy-laden ‘Super Six’ series that dragged on for years.
But surely waiting until early September for Groves should be the exception to their stringent rules that don’t allow delays. Sadly, it seems not.