Groves Relishing Rematch With Scottish Hard Man

By Ryan Waugh: George Groves will defend his British & Commonwealth super-middleweight titles in March when he clashes with Edinburgh’s Kenny Anderson for a second dual in two years.

The pair battled for six vicious rounds at the Manchester Evening News Arena in November 2010. On March 16 Wembley Arena in London will be the setting for yet another exciting showdown.

Adam Booth, the trainer of Groves predicts this will be his hardest assignment since turning professional and said: “This will be George’s hardest fight to date-trust me on this one. It will be a better fight than the first one and we are under no illusions to the challenge ahead.”

’The Saint’ who, has defeated Daniel Adotey Allotey, James DeGale and Paul Smith since his close victory over Anderson is confident that he can do another job on the Scotsman. He said: “I thought it was going to be a routine victory the first time I fought him. However, I was proved wrong and made some mistakes in the fight.

“I have made great improvements and boxed a higher calibre of boxers to what Kenny has since our last bout and it’s up to me to do the job properly this time. He has very limited attributes and he only has a one dimension way of fighting.

“He eventually got out strengthened by me and out punched by me in the last fight-I made it much more difficult than it needed to be, this time round I am making sure this doesn’t happen.

“I don’t think it needs to be a slug fest this time, but if it happens, it happens-it will be good for the supporters.

“I have shown throughout my career that I will not be beaten and I showed that November night against Kenny that if I get into trouble I will get back up again to win, this did not faze me.”

Groves, 23, who has recently recovered from a hand injury which was sustained in the Hayemaker gym while training, will look to keep up his regular sparring with another promising middleweight, Chris Eubank Junior.

The Hammersmith man, who has aspirations of fighting Carl Froch in 2013, will be in fine fettle as he looks to continue his unblemished record of 14-0 (11) against his mandatory challenger. He said: “Chris Eubank Junior is a great sparring partner-he asks questions of me all the time and improves me a lot.

“I think I have a decent ranking with all the governing rankings and I am number eight now with ring magazine-so there’s not many people above me. To try and pick off a couple of guys above me would be great-we will see what happens after this fight.

“As long as I keep improving, I’m sure my opportunities will be there, as always. In my career it’s good to take calculated risks and this is something that I will continue to do.”

As the Saint builds towards fight number 15 of his professional career-he knows that he could soon be leaving the British and Commonwealth scene behind as big things are just around the corner.

January 23, 2012