George’s Degale warning
JAMES DEGALE has warned his old foe George Groves not to make the same stupid mistake he made in rushing back too early from a shoulder injury.
Groves, the WBA supermiddleweight title holder, is racing against time to be fit for the World Boxing Super Series final against Callum Smith (below).
He dislocated a shoulder in February during his semi-final win against Chris Eubank Junior.
The latter is on standby to step in as a replacement for Groves if he is not ready for a proposed July 14 showdown, with organisers considering alternative options.
Groves has been working towards that date, but Degale knows only too well how catastrophic a decision it can be to come back before such an injury has fully recovered.
He paid the price when he lost his IBF world supermiddleweight title to Caleb Truax in December before winning it back in April.
Degale said: “Coming back after six months was just stupid. After I had my operation, the surgeon said: ‘Next year now, James’, as in 2018, to come back.
“I was like: ‘Oh, man, I need to fight’, and he said: ‘Well, some people come back after six months, but it depends how you feel’.
“Once he said six months, which fell in December, no one was going to tell me I wasn’t going to fight then.
“As soon as the bell went, I threw a left hand and missed – and I thought, ‘Oh, no, it’s going to be a long night’.
“There was no strength, there was nothing – I was flat. There was no movement.
“It wasn’t me in there, it was horrendous.
“It depends what the injury is with George – but you can’t rush your fitness or injury back.”