Groves to spar with Dirrell in preparation for Degale fight.

As the title says, Haye has brought Andre Dirrell in to spar with Groves for the upcoming Groves-Degale fight. Hadn't seen anyone mention it yet on here, so thought I'd raise the issue, food for thought and all that. This article in particular did have me chuckling though:

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297101

Seems mot everyone it truly appreciative of Dirrell's particular 'talents'...

Anyway, there we have it.

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Thats a funny article, couple of my favourite parts;

'Haye, as we all know, will be fighting a Klitschko or two this year and he realised that he needs to up his game, so he did what any smart boxer would do in that position. He turned to Andre Dirrell.'

'It was perfectly illustrated in his fight with Kenny ‘FREEDOM!’ Anderson. The Scot had a cunning plan, which involved walking up to Groves and punching him in the face.'

'As if that wasn’t reason enough to dislike him, DeGale also brings a small man called Jim (he says he is his trainer) to press conferences and uses him to unsettle opponents by shouting at them in a very high-pitched voice.'

Degale doesn't do himself any favours does he? I want to like the guy, really I do, and watching him it's plain to see that he's very talented, but...he's just not easy to like...

Looks like degales for himself a good sparring partner also in cleverly. They are both pushing the boat out despite it being, on paper, nothing more than a novice doemstic clash. You could tell when the purse bids where revealed as how big this fight can be.

Dirrell should really, really help groves un this fight as dirrell is the closest fighter to degale who is in the elite class.

The only advantage i think grove has over degale is power, and cleverly will show more power than groves due to his size so degale will also benefit from it. The added benefit of cleverly is that he will be sparring degale at his top form as he will also be fighting and trying to get to his peak potential. Dirrell Hasnt fought since march and doesn't gave a fight coming up, so you don't know how much he can offer George in the short term.

We talking sparing or acting classes though?

That was my first thought. I mean, what exactly are they expecting from Degale? Is he gonna spend half the fight slipping over, and the other half hugging?

According to the article, Haye is studying Dirrell's talents as part of his preparation for the up coming Wlad Klitschko fight. Thats not a bad idea, Haye may require some slippery moves. If one squeezed their eyes together a bit - Carl Froch vs Andre Dirrell? Groves would benefit from a few moves himself. I wonder if gramps has given him the low down and what level of sparring is 'allowed'. I always found the idea of Shane Mosely imitating Floyd Mayweather in sparring with De La Hoya quite amusing. Should have brought Ward in if they wanted a 'Degale'.

Must admit i did find that rather amusing for a Sunday morning read!

"He obviously wasn’t used to being aggressively shouted at by a mini-Bee Gee."

And the opening gambit of "Groves, who has ginger hair"....

Pretty amusing

Dirrell isn't preparing for a fight just hoping to make a few quid. Degold will spar with Cleverly and with Froch for a shorter period who are preparing for world title shots. Degold is the better all round fighter. He does everything better than ugly kid. He has the better sparring partner as well. Degold in 3

I think its a good move by Groves. Dirrell is much faster and a SP also. More elusive than DeGale. An altogether good move. Should make the fight more interesting. I think Groves has got under DeGale's skin and JDG is probably very nervous about fighting his amateur nemesis. Perhaps Groves has DeGale's number.

prettyboy1304 wrote:Dirrell isn't preparing for a fight just hoping to make a few quid. Degold will spar with Cleverly and with Froch for a shorter period who are preparing for world title shots. Degold is the better all round fighter. He does everything better than ugly kid. He has the better sparring partner as well. Degold in 3

The problem with that is Degales sparring wouldn't have a huge emphasise on him but rather on the more esteemed Cleverly and Froch, neither are going to waste their training time concentrating on helping someone else they have more important things to do. Nor have I heard that either are sparring with him.

Degold regularly spars with Cleverly and has done since he turned pro. Froch was looking for sparring partners in Britain and thought Degold was the best in Britain.

that article is a good read - needless to say though, dirrell wipe the floor with degale and groves in a single night.

I've heard nothing that they're sparring considering they're all training in completely different places seems a bit odd to me

imperialghosty wrote:I've heard nothing that they're sparring considering they're all training in completely different places seems a bit odd to me

Haye has been arranging it so they can spar at the 5th Street Gym.

Scottrf wrote:

imperialghosty wrote:I've heard nothing that they're sparring considering they're all training in completely different places seems a bit odd to me

Haye has been arranging it so they can spar at the 5th Street Gym.

Is it Groves who Froch is training with I heard it was Degold

Scottrf wrote:

imperialghosty wrote:I've heard nothing that they're sparring considering they're all training in completely different places seems a bit odd to me

Haye has been arranging it so they can spar at the 5th Street Gym.

I meant that i've not heard anything about Degale sparring with Cleverly or Froch

Degale has sparred with Cleverly regularly for 2 years now. Think it is excellent for both fighters because it can be hard for British fighters to get good sparring sometimes.

ive read in the past groves has sparred with froch, froch talked about groves having good power in his punches

This could backfire a little bit on Groves. If he finds himself in with a guy who he cannot lay a glove on it could demoralise him as Dirrel is a class above these two for now. If he can frustrate Abe and Froch then I can't see Groves having any success which could hurt his self-belief.