George Groves has spoken about the best skills he has ever faced in the boxing ring.
Groves is a former super middleweight ruler who is best known for an epic pair of fights with fellow Brit Carl Froch in 2013 and 2014. He was the young challenger going into the first fight and had the IBF and WBA ruler down in the first round, though he was controversially stopped in the ninth round.
In the rematch, Froch was much more switched on and ended the contest with a cold one-punch knockout in the eighth round in front of 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium.
Groves won his world title three years later by beating Fedor Chudinov, having also bested Martin Murray, Jamie Cox and Chris Eubank Jr before retiring in 2018.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, however, Groves admitted that one-time IBF interim super middleweight champion Andre Dirrell had the most skills he ever faced, having sparred with the American in the past.
“The most skilful fighter, in the gym in sparring was Andre Dirrell, he was really skilful. This is post his fight with Carl Froch but pre his fight with James DeGale so I was still a bit of a newbie pro but he was very good. He was lightning fast and very explosive, he had decent power and a lot of boxing IQ.
“He was slick you had to stick to your boxing fundamentals to stick with him, which a lot of people forget when they are in there. He was very elusive with the head, great angles, I remember he kept catching me with a lead uppercut, so from a southpaw stance it was a right uppercut, which is the muggiest shot you can get hit with.”
Dirrell had an up-and-down career with 31 fights in all before retiring in 2021. He beat the likes of José Uzcátegui, though lost in a rematch, and was outpointed by Brit James DeGale for the full IBF title in 2015.
