Groves out to teach Eubank Jnr a lesson
SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION SAYS OPPONENT IS LOOKING PAST HIM
GEORGE Groves insists that Chris Eubank Jnr’s inexperience is going to cost him when the two men meet at the Manchester Arena this weekend.
Groves defends his WBA supermiddleweight title against IBO super-middleweight champion Eubank Jnr in the semi-final of the World Boxing Super Series.
Many onlookers see it as the biggest fight of Eubank’s career so far, while Groves has previously had important clashes against the likes of Carl Froch.
With that in mind, Groves believes that Eubank has made mistakes in the build-up which will come back to haunt him on fight night.
“Eubank is looking beyond our fight as he believes he is going to win simply because it is his destiny and his time, but it’s not his time, this is about who is better, and he is not,” he said.
“I think he is looking beyond our fight just like I’ve done with fights in the past. I definitely looked beyond Froch and paid the price.
“I was always thinking of what was next after beating Froch, not because I thought winning was a foregone conclusion but I was confident I could do a job on him.
“Then I made the mistake of doing too much PR selling the fight in the build-up, which was very taxing and come fight night I obviously got it wrong.”
Groves had to re-build his career after the two defeats to Froch, and was successful in doing so after going on to win the WBA super-middleweight title, and he has warned Eubank that he will also have to go back to the drawing board after this fight.
“Get knocked out and you have a massive fall from grace. There is a massive task to rebuild. I had to take that second defeat against Froch literally on the chin,” he said.
“That was not only on the night when he caught me but again and again because I had to have ‘proper’ fights getting back to the top.
“The Eubanks have done well in commercially building Junior’s brand but they haven’t had the tests in terms of competitive fights.”
Groves and Eubank were both involved in an open workout at the National Football Museum in Manchester yesterday, and will meet again today when they take part in the final press conference.
While Groves has warned Eubank Jnr that he isn’t experienced enough, Eubank Jnr says he’ll use this fight as an opportunity to emerge from his father’s shadow.
“This fight here between me and Groves is the type of fight which will help to separate me and my father,” said Eubank Jnr.
“It will really stamp myself onto boxing and really separate myself and show that I am out of my father’s shadow.”