EDITOR’S LETTER
After a ne career Groves hangs up his gloves while still a young man
Groves has nothing left to prove
IT’S impossible to know if a boxer has retired at the ‘right’ time. Because, even later in life, the sport can creep up, yank a chord in the brain and turn out the lights.
However, as a general rule, if the fighter quits when they still have plenty of options and plaudits and money, it’s as triumphant an exit as this cruel sport will allow. So bravo George Groves, a rich and highly-ranked 30-year-old, for announcing his retirement this week. For again exhibiting his knack for doing things his own way and not following the crowd, for never failing to learn.
A boxer who would not be tied down to one promoter, whose substantial ability and charm allowed him to secure four world title shots and achieve his dream with the final one. And a boxer who, even after last year’s loss to Callum Smith, could have walked straight into a fifth challenge if he’d desired. But for Groves, he knew it was the end. That the longer one fights, the more likely that chord will one day be pulled.
During rivalries with James Degale, Carl Froch and Chris Eubank Jnr he went 2-2 and became a must-see attraction in an era destined to be remembered fondly. Not quite the same as the Benn-watson-eubank Snr years, true, but Froch-groves was the domestic rivalry of its time. It reinvigorated what had become a cantankerous boxing audience simply by delivering on its promise of thrills and spills. And it delivered immediately, thanks to Groves almost knocking out the seemingly indestructible Froch in the opening minutes of their 2013 clash. It delivered at the very end, too, when Froch flattened Groves in their return.
That the Londoner rebuilt after those losses – one contentious, the second, in 2014, as emphatic as defeats can be – also says plenty about George Groves.
He still has an enemy in Froch after driving the old warrior seething mad in the build-up to both battles. They were courageous pre-fight campaigns which, Groves will admit, made him lots of money then briefly wrecked his confidence after they failed.
A loss to Badou Jack in Las Vegas subsequently made his eventual world title triumph even more unlikely.
But there were few who begrudged Groves his moment when he dethroned Fedor Chudinov to win the WBA title in 2017. And he was impressive when turning back Jamie Cox and Eubank Jnr in two successful defences.
But Groves knew the dangers of the sport. He wrestled with his conscience after he pummelled Eduard Gutknecht into a coma with hands that were raised in victory. Hands that would count the riches made by his savage occupation.
For all boxers, it’s a difficult balancing act. The danger, the reward, the conscience that can never be completely clear. But in the end, Groves – drawn to a life away from boxing – played it about as perfectly as any fighter can.
Everyone at Boxing News wishes George and his family all the very best for the future. NEWSWRITING, when done well, can be a beautiful thing. Yet it would seem to be dying a slow death in this unrelenting age of immediacy, where a fortunate oaf who filmed a riot on his phone will make more money than a journalist who spent time finding out exactly what caused it.
The media today is a wholly different arena to when Hugh Mcilvanney – arguably the greatest sportswriter of them all – was at his glorious peak.
I only ever spoke to him on the phone. The first time was a passing call after Muhammad Ali, his hero, had died. He politely declined to write the BN obituary on The Greatest. “I’m honoured to be asked by a paper like Boxing News,” he said, “but I’ll only be writing one, and I intend to give it everything I’ve got.”
Mcilvanney took ferocious pride in everything he put his name to. It’s the kind of pride that should embarrass so many ‘journalists’ today.
Mcilvanney – a true magician with words – is already sorely missed.