Groves Vs Anderson Off!!!!!

BREAKING NEWS: BOXING
British super-middleweight champion George Groves has been forced to pull out of his title defence against Kenny Anderson on Friday due to medical reasons. The Wembley Arena bout, which was the main event on the bill, has been postponed and a new date will be announced.

"It's bitterly disappointing for us and all the boxers involved," said promoter Frank Warren.

*Source: BBC Sport

More to follow.....

Such a coinsidence that Kessler pulls out same day...
Plus purse bids for Groves v Stieglitz...
Odd

Yea mate "medical reasons", would be great to hear a bit, just a lil bit of honesty from Warren.

Its not like nobody knew about the purse bids etc.

He seems to think we are all mugs

I feel for Anderson in all this from what i was hearing he was preparing like a mad man for this

Oh for FECK'S SAKE!!

Was really looking forward to this, thought it was a good match-up!

Can they put Anderson in with Degale in a few weeks or has he got an opponent lined up?

Think DeGale is due to defend his belt in Italy I think but have a feeling he will give up the belt in an act of shameful afraid to leave Franks cotton wool blanket ducking.

Mark my words!!!

A lot of Twitter chat about it, George is posting there's more news soon. HMMMMM....

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Think DeGale is due to defend his belt in Italy I think but have a feeling he will give up the belt in an act of shameful afraid to leave Franks cotton wool blanket ducking.

Mark my words!!!

What a load of rubbish, he is euro champ after 11 fights and you accuse him of ducking? ...

dear me..

tunes666 wrote:

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Think DeGale is due to defend his belt in Italy I think but have a feeling he will give up the belt in an act of shameful afraid to leave Franks cotton wool blanket ducking.

Mark my words!!!

What a load of rubbish, he is euro champ after 11 fights and you accuse him of ducking? ...

dear me..

You get used to it with Reborn. He hates everyone. Cleverly he hates the most you will learn

I always said that Degale vs Anderson made the most sense, I hope they can make that happen soon but it won't be for Friday!

Steffan wrote:

tunes666 wrote:

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Think DeGale is due to defend his belt in Italy I think but have a feeling he will give up the belt in an act of shameful afraid to leave Franks cotton wool blanket ducking.

Mark my words!!!

What a load of rubbish, he is euro champ after 11 fights and you accuse him of ducking? ...

dear me..

You get used to it with Reborn. He hates everyone. Cleverly he hates the most you will learn

SES won the purse bids with $792k, Warren bid $782k. The fight will take place on the 28th of April in Germany if rumours are to be believed.

SES bid was lower than Warrens? If Warren has serously tried to win this bid and lost that is a massive problem for Groves. I think if it is in England Groves wins, in Germany though, anything could happen. Boxing is so screwed up with cheating right now.

Doesn't the highest offer win?

Thinking it was typo, but what do you think of this Union? As a matchup.

I think it could be bad news for Groves as he will have to go for the KO to get the win, and he does tend to leave himself open when on the attack.

Steilgitz can be KO'd, he was worn down and knocked out by Andrade, but Groves can't fight like he usually does and expect adecision there. Needs to be active, aggressive from the off. Just don't fight like Haye does abroad, basically.

I think Groves needs to forget this title shot, he isn't ready for it. Have the anderson rematch and a couple more steps up in class before even considering it. Career suicide if you ask me...

So its Groves V. Stieglitz now?

Too early and a poor move by Groves. He's not ready for a world belt yet. He'll probably win and then fight against more road sweepers to learn his trade much like Chavez Jnr.

Poor show there imo.

Awful way to treat Anderson also.

I would not want to be then next man that gets in the ring with Anderson he is not a happy boy and he's a nasty man at the best of times.

Anderson is on Sky text and he's accused Groves of lying about the injury and is calling for Groves to be stripped of the title.

Groves injury just comes over a bit convenient IMO.

Stieglitz, from what I have seen, is beatable. If Groves loses its no big deal for him as there will be little expectation on him.

If he wins though, hes going to be in the same position as Cleverly. A world champion not really ready to be a world champion and lacking the ability to compete with the very best.

Even more worrying for Groves is that should he win, the WBO rankings for the division are surprisingly talented so its hard to see how can get aay with fighting sub par opponents. For Feb the WBO SMW rankings were:

CHAMPION ROBERT STIEGLITZ GER
1 Mikkel Kessler DK
2 Arthur Abraham (WBO Europe) ARM
3 George Groves GB
4 Andre Dirrell USA
5 James DeGale (Int-Cont.) GB
6 Anthony Dirrell USA
7 Kelly Pavlik USA
8 Nikola Sjekloca SER
9 Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna (Latino) ARG
10 Nader Hamdan (Asia-Pacific) AUST

Groves is probably not even in the top 5 on that list never mind Ward, Froch, Bute etc Not many easy mandatories there and he will be viewed as a weak link for fighters that want to stay clear of the more challenging champions in Ward and Bute/Froch.

He was in a 50/50 fight with DeGale who isn't ready for World level yet and got beat up by Dirrell in sparring for the DeGale fight. I reckon Stieglitz beats him. He isn't a top super middleweight but I do think he is better than he gets credit for.

Id make Stieglitz a favourite alright but wouldnt be shocked if Groves beat him.

I wouldn't be shocked either but Stieglitz handlers clearly think he is ready for a step up in class because they were willing to take on kessler and Groves is miles away from that level.

A bit off topic but I do think Kessler will be a real force at 175lbs. If he still has it then I don't see anyone beating him.

Was Kessler not a mandatory for Stieglitz?

He was but he said he couldn't make the weight and has moved up to 175lbs. That's why the purse bids were ordered by the WBO for groves vs Stieglitz. They naturally moved the Warren fighter up without him fighting.

I've been wondering how Degale feels. He would probably be the one getting a shot at Stieglitz if he hadn't realised Warren is a dog.

Ok. I didnt realise Kessler had withdrawn due to weight problems. Seems odd that he would pull out weeks in advance unless he was seriously overweight.

I just meant it in terms of I dont think Stieglitz neccessarily wanted Kessler as an opponent but thought he just had no choice to face him. He hasnt appeared to be a guy that has gone after tough fights if he can avoid it. But I havent seen much of him lately so maybe hes improved considerably in the last year or two. Would need to watch more of his recent fights to see what kind of chance Groves has realistically.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4195595/Plot-to-shoot-boxer-George-Groves-during-live-TV-fight.html

Interesting conjecture from the media as to why the fight may have been cancelled....

Saw that earlier Sodhat, obviously not sure how much truth there is to it.

If Lamont Peterson can have the Hatman mess about with scorecards in front of a live TV audience then Groves should be allowed to wear a bullet proof vest in future bouts.

Only one to feel sorry for - and I feel really sorry for him - is Anderson. He was one punch from a finish against Groves the previous time - and if Groves hadn't been a "name" - that fight would have been his.

I hope Frank gives him a decent opponent - ie a deGale shot. he deserves it.