Groves vs Stieglitz OFF

Groves injured.. don't know how... Stieglitz in bad situation again after Kessler cancelled last time.

oh joy another fight cancelled, im more suprised these days when a fight actually goes ahead!!

Blimey, was looking forward to this.

Perhaps a slightly controversial view but am actually glad this is off and hope it is not re-scheduled. We give Cleverly dogs abuse on here (rightly if not a little over the top) for failing to face decent opposition as a world champion or showing no inclination to meet the other champions in the weight but lets be honest was Groves to win this one does anyone think, given who is promoter is and what belt he would be winning, it would be any different, if we take the best four at the weight as Ward, Bute, Kessler and Froch does anyone think Frank is letting George anywhere near those guys, or even a Dirrell, I personally don't think there is a cat in hells chance.

Given I like Groves as a fighter and a person if this stops him becoming another figure of ridicule and bile on here or another paper champion I can only welcome the delay or postponement and hope it lasts at least another 18 months.

I agree with Rowley. If Groves won this he would have to duck duck duck or face certain defeat. Not ready for big boys yet. Anderson 2 awaits

This is a blessing for Groves. As Rowley states. he would never be let near the top guys in the division and would have made a mockery of the world champ tag.

Perhaps DeGale can step in!!

Rowley and CO. SIGN MY PETITION!!

I would have liked to see it because I think Stieglitz is near enough the kind of calibre fighter that Groves should be looking to test himself against (ignoring the world title). Depending on who he did it would give a decent indication of whether or not he could step it up. You expect at the age and stage in his career that he is at that he will be improving rapidly and I think hes done with the domestic scene now and no need to look back. Stieglitz would have good test. I remeber looking at the WBO rankings for the SMW division a while ago and there are not too many gimmes in there so even the old mandatory Warren route would have been tricky to navigate.

manos de piedra wrote: I remeber looking at the WBO rankings for the SMW division a while ago and there are not too many gimmes in there so even the old mandatory Warren route would have been tricky to navigate.

Not if you ignore the mandatory.

manos de piedra wrote:I would have liked to see it because I think Stieglitz is near enough the kind of calibre fighter that Groves should be looking to test himself against (ignoring the world title). Depending on who he did it would give a decent indication of whether or not he could step it up. You expect at the age and stage in his career that he is at that he will be improving rapidly and I think hes done with the domestic scene now and no need to look back. Stieglitz would have good test. I remeber looking at the WBO rankings for the SMW division a while ago and there are not too many gimmes in there so even the old mandatory Warren route would have been tricky to navigate.

Stieglitz would have been a fine opponent, but Groves isn't ready for AA, Froch et al. Even AA would be a huge risk with his power & experience

Anyone know why Groves has pulled out yet?

This is what he put on twitter.

I am sorry to have to announce that I won't be boxing on May 5th. I have picked up an injury in the build up to this fight. We tried to work through it but soon realised I wouldn't be able to perform the training needed to prepare for this fight. After coming back to London immediately and seeking medical advice I hope that this problem will be sorted soon and will only be a short delay. I am truly sorry to everyone involved who will be affected by this. This is without doubt the toughest decision I have ever had to make, I am gutted but nothing worth having is given away. It has only made me more determined to achieve my goal of becoming world champion. Thanks to everyone again for their continued support in my journey.

rowley wrote:

manos de piedra wrote: I remeber looking at the WBO rankings for the SMW division a while ago and there are not too many gimmes in there so even the old mandatory Warren route would have been tricky to navigate.

Not if you ignore the mandatory.

Thats true I suppose, but I think Warren plays it as he sees it. Cleverly always scraped by Bellew so I think Warren was relectant to take risks. If Groves beat Stieglitz in good style I think he might be more willing to match him better.

Seanusarrilius wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:I would have liked to see it because I think Stieglitz is near enough the kind of calibre fighter that Groves should be looking to test himself against (ignoring the world title). Depending on who he did it would give a decent indication of whether or not he could step it up. You expect at the age and stage in his career that he is at that he will be improving rapidly and I think hes done with the domestic scene now and no need to look back. Stieglitz would have good test. I remeber looking at the WBO rankings for the SMW division a while ago and there are not too many gimmes in there so even the old mandatory Warren route would have been tricky to navigate.

Stieglitz would have been a fine opponent, but Groves isn't ready for AA, Froch et al. Even AA would be a huge risk with his power & experience

Well we dont really know until he steps it up a level. Stieglitz would have a decent indicator of wheres hes at. Were he to have beaten Stieglitz for instance then I would see no reason why AA would be too big a risk after that. A tough fight yes, but winnable.

I honestly think if this was in England the Groves would have fought it. pProb weighed up his chances of a decision in Germany and decided against it. If Groves did decide not to go as it's in Germany, then this is another fine example of bias and corruption in boxing, where a fighter won't even risk getting jobbed by going into the Lions den. Sign our petition boys, have your voice heard.

https://www.change.org/petitions/a-petition-to-eliminate-bias-in-boxing-make-boxing-fair

It was a big opportunity for him. I dont think he would have pulled out because its in Germany. Why sign up in the first place then?

If you are prone to a conspiracy theory is not impossible Warren has seen the reaction to Cleverly's level of opposition and has chosen against launching another fighter on the same kind of career path so soon again.

Anderson was pretty confident he would be fighting Groves in the summer, seems he was right. Anderson got dropped on Saturday before his opponent didn't come out for the 4th round.

I think he means he pulled out due to the injury AND the fact it was in Germany, whereas if it was in England and he sustained the injury he would have boxed on. Depends on the injury in my opinion, he could have done his toe in and learned a life lesson from his best buddy going over to Germany,

Im not sure what the injury is, or how serious so I dont really know to what degree he would have considered fighting through it.

I mean he wasnt initially supposed to fight Stieglitz at all until Kessler dropped out so it was a pretty big chance against the most beatable of the champions out there. In this instance I would tend to think its just a legitimate injury as there isnt really any benefit from pulling out, even if the injury wasnt all that serious. He probably knows he needs to be 100% and have a good camp to win so anything less for a fight of this magnitude would be very risky for him.

Seanusarrilius wrote:I honestly think if this was in England the Groves would have fought it. pProb weighed up his chances of a decision in Germany and decided against it. If Groves did decide not to go as it's in Germany, then this is another fine example of bias and corruption in boxing, where a fighter won't even risk getting jobbed by going into the Lions den. Sign our petition boys, have your voice heard.

https://www.change.org/petitions/a-petition-to-eliminate-bias-in-boxing-make-boxing-fair

See Waingro signed up Jane Couch's support might help pull in some more signatures, saw you were busy on Twitter.

Re the OP, I'm disappointed as I was really looking forward to the fight and thought Groves could win it but secretely thankful, a la Rowley et al, as I didn't want to see him a champion this early in his career, especially a Warren Chump champ.

TopHat24/7 wrote:

Seanusarrilius wrote:I honestly think if this was in England the Groves would have fought it. pProb weighed up his chances of a decision in Germany and decided against it. If Groves did decide not to go as it's in Germany, then this is another fine example of bias and corruption in boxing, where a fighter won't even risk getting jobbed by going into the Lions den. Sign our petition boys, have your voice heard.

https://www.change.org/petitions/a-petition-to-eliminate-bias-in-boxing-make-boxing-fair

See Waingro signed up Jane Couch's support might help pull in some more signatures, saw you were busy on Twitter.

Re the OP, I'm disappointed as I was really looking forward to the fight and thought Groves could win it but secretely thankful, a la Rowley et al, as I didn't want to see him a champion this early in his career, especially a Warren Chump champ.

Yeah I was tweeting like a good un, ha. Jane is a sweetheart really, good of her to get involved.

So glad about this, I thought Groves needed at least a few more fights until he was ready for world level.

Groves vs Anderson 2 please =D

Yes, BoxingFan, definitely agree. Thought Anderson was a very good choice of opponent originally.

Now he might be ready in 10 weeks. Will Stieglitz wait? Feel almost bad for Stieglitz, opponents dropping like flies. Prob AA v Stieglitz now and Grovs v Anderson II

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/boxing/4261796/George-Groves-will-be-ready-to-fight-Robert-Stieglitz-within-10-weeks.html

I wouldnt be hugely keen on Groves/Anderson again. I think that would be stagnating a little bit. Hes already beaten him, granted he had to climb off the canvas to do it. But hes more than likely got better since then whereas Anderson is probably the same and has never competed above domestic level.

Maybe someone like Bika/Mendy/Johnson or if he is looking domestically then Brian Magee who has at least mixed with world class operators before and could further Groves experience.

From what I have read it looks like its Anderson pencilled in for June though.

Anderson was confident at the weekend of fighting Groves Manos so he obviously knew before this broke. Worryingly he was dropped at the weekend but this could be due to fighting at the same level for so long now and losing focus. Groves has moved on a lot now and this fight would have been better last year.

The Galveston Giant wrote:Anderson was confident at the weekend of fighting Groves Manos so he obviously knew before this broke. Worryingly he was dropped at the weekend but this could be due to fighting at the same level for so long now and losing focus. Groves has moved on a lot now and this fight would have been better last year.

Yeah I think barring injury its pencilled in for June. I agree I think the fight would have better a year ago or if Groves had been a bit more active. Its lost a bit of its relevancy now. Id like to see Groves push on ahead but this fight is really just treading water. Maybe they has some kind of deal in place with Stieglitz to rescheduled the bout for late in the year and they just want to keep things ticking over until then. Otherwise I dont think it will achieve much for furthering Groves other than to keep him busy.

Yep Kenny had a chance to do something on the back of the Groves performance but he's back at square one, his career doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Suppose it should now be a lower risk fight that will still gain Groves respect from the fans. Groves seems ambitious and hopefully the big fights are still around the corner.

May 5 is rubbish now