Hammersmith puncher George Groves will have watched Chris Eubank Jr destroy Turkey’s Avni Yildirim last weekend and will be wanting to issue a response. Eubank Jr stopped his opponent in the third round and is waiting for the winner of his bout for a semi final fight to be hosted in January in the World Super Series of Boxing. Groves will know that he is going to have to step up his game.
That bout against Eubank Jr is a mouth watering prospect but first, Groves has to complete his quarter duel with Jamie Cox, a southpaw from the south west. Back in May, Groves stopped Fedor Chudinov to become WBC super-middleweight champion and that was the fourth time of asking in a title fight that he had actually gotten a win.
There were those two misses against Carl Froch in 2013 and 2014, in which Groves fought well in both but was stopped in both. His third title shot was against Sweden’s Badou Jack and again he fought decently but was denied by a split decision at the end of the fight. But in the win over Chudinov, fans saw a more controlled, a more readily prepared Groves who was finally ready to take his chance.
Groves is a massive 1/5 odds on favourite at William Hill to get the win in this bout and set up the scrap with Eubank Jr next year. Goves is just 29 and right now in his prime and he will carry a 26-3 career record into the fight (19 KO). He is on a five match winning streak at the moment. So who is his opponent on Saturday? Who is Jamie Cox? He is two years older than Groves and the former Commonwealth champion but hasn’t had the kind of career tests that Groves has had.
Cox really has just had a stop-start professional career and at points has taken two years between fights which doesn’t exactly scream of being fully dedicated to the sport. Part of that has been down to injury and part of that has been because of personal and legal issues. He had three fights in 2015 and then just one in 2016. But since May of this year, to get ready for the Super Series, he has had three bouts again no-one in particular and stepped up to super-middleweight in 2015. Cox, who has a 24-0 pro-career record, is a big 4/1 shot in this one. He really doesn’t look to be up to the task of being in a title fight, and certainly not up to the quality of Groves even if this wasn’t a title fight.
George Groves v Jamie Cox Prediction
Cox isn’t at the technical skill level that Groves is at and this does appear to be a bit of a mismatch. It should be nothing more than a nice easy warm up for Groves ahead of taking on Eubank Jr early next year. It’s hard to see it going beyond seven really and under 9.5 rounds at William Hill is a decent punt at even money.
World Boxing Super Series Quarter Finals
George Groves v Jamie Cox (Oct 14th)
Chris Eubank Jr v Avni Yilfirim (KO 3)
Callum Smith v Erik Skoglund (UD 12)
Jurgen Brahmer v Robert Brant (Oct 28th)
