George Groves

George Groves was a successful British boxer who held the WBA (Super) super-middleweight title from 2017 to 2018, among other regional titles. His professional boxing career spanned over nine years, where he fought a total of 32 times, winning 28 fights, and suffering four losses, all in title bouts. Groves was nicknamed 'Saint George,' and he was known for his powerful punching, especially his knockout wins.

Groves made his professional boxing debut in November 2008, defeating Kirilas Psonko via 6 round PTS. He went on to win 18 more consecutive fights, 15 of which were won via stoppage. In November 2013, Groves had his first world title fight against Carl Froch for the WBA (Unified) and IBF titles, losing via 9th round TKO.

Over the course of his career, Groves won one world title at super-middleweight with two successful title defenses. Some of his notable victories include wins over Jamie Cox, Chris Eubank Jr., Andrea Di Luisa, Fedor Chudinov, James DeGale, Paul Smith, and Noé González Alcoba.

Although Groves retired from professional boxing with a record of 28-4, which included 20 knockout wins and three losses via knockout, he is remembered as an exceptional super-middleweight fighter.

Early Career

Groves turned professional on 15 November 2008 and joined the Hayemaker Promotions stable. His first fight as a professional was in November 2008 at The O2 Arena, where he defeated Kirill Pshonko via a six-round win. Groves' next fights saw him score third round stoppages over Romaric Hignard and Paul Samuels in February and March 2009, respectively. In April, Groves travelled to Belfast to dispose of Sandor Polgar.

In September 2009, following the collapse of Hayemaker's television deal with Setanta Sports, Groves signed a promotional deal with veteran boxing promoter Frank Maloney, describing Groves as "one of the world's best prospects." Despite signing with Maloney, Groves continued to be managed and trained by Hayemaker's Adam Booth.

On 7 November 2009, following two more professional outings, Groves travelled to Germany and fought on the undercard of stablemate David Haye's WBA title win against Nikolai Valuev, defeating the experienced Konstantin Makhanovsky in his first fight over eight rounds.

Groves won his first title in only his ninth fight, defeating Charles Adamu via TKO to win the Commonwealth super-middleweight title on 3 April 2010. Groves followed up the win by travelling to Las Vegas in July 2010 to gain some high-profile experience and fighting on the undercard of Marquez-Diaz II, where he stopped Alfredo Contreras in the sixth round after the referee decided that Contreras was not sufficiently answering back with punches.

Groves made the first defence of his title on 13 November 2010, beating former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Kenny Anderson in the sixth round on the undercard of David Haye's world title clash with Audley Harrison at the MEN Arena. Groves defeated Daniel Adotey Allotey at the Huddersfield Leisure Centre in a four-round of what was an eight-round non-title fight on 5 March 2011. Following the bout, Groves said that the fight had been preparation for a potential future clash with British champion and old foe James DeGale.

On 21 May 2011, Groves and DeGale met in a highly anticipated grudge match for the Commonwealth and British super-middleweight titles, where Groves won by a majority decision after twelve closely fought rounds. The fight was declared the first remarkable performance of Groves' career, and the event led to a rematch becoming a possibility.

Groves beat former British champion Paul Smith in two rounds at the Wembley Arena in London on 5 November 2011, in his first fight with Frank Maloney. After nine months out, Groves returned to the ring in July 2012, knocking out Mexican boxer Francisco Sierra in 2 rounds. In December, Groves fought veteran former world champion Glen Johnson at the ExCel Arena. Groves won a lopsided decision after 12 rounds when the judges scored it (120-107, 120-107, and 119-109). Groves won 35 of 36 scored rounds on the three judges scorecards and gave Johnson a bad beating in the seventh round, though the fight was not stopped but could have been.

In May 2013, Groves defeated 34-year-old Noe Gonzalez Alcoba (30-2, 22 KOs) at the O2 Arena on the undercard of the Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler rematch, claiming the vacant WBA Inter-Continental super-middleweight title. Groves landed a right hand in the opening minute of the fifth round, which caught Noe Gonzalez coming forward and sent him down for a count of five. Gonzalez made it to his feet, but he stood on shaky legs as the referee waved an end to the bout.

World Title Challenges

In mid-2013, the IBF installed Groves as the mandatory challenger to titleholder Carl Froch, with a bout between them taking place on 23 November 2013, at the Phones4u Arena in Manchester. Both Froch's IBF and WBA (Super) super-middleweight titles were on the line.

In the fight, Froch stopped Groves in the ninth round. Groves was ahead on all three judges' scorecards, having dropped the champion in the first round

George Groves Fight Record