{"id":419515,"date":"2011-05-05T16:26:05","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T16:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/05\/degale-and-groves-renew-rivalries\/"},"modified":"2011-05-05T16:26:05","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T16:26:05","slug":"degale-and-groves-renew-rivalries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/degale-and-groves-renew-rivalries\/","title":{"rendered":"DeGale and Groves renew rivalries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"George<\/p>\n

Groves (left) beat Olympic champion DeGale as an amateur<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

British super-middleweight champion James DeGale and opponent George Groves have renewed hostilities ahead of their clash at the O2 Arena on 21 May.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The pair are old rivals from their amateur days with Groves famously once beating the Olympic gold medallist.<\/p>\n

But British champion DeGale claims that Groves is bitter of his success at the 2008 Beijing Games.<\/p>\n

“He was jealous of me as an amateur and he has been jealous of me ever since I turned professional,” said DeGale.<\/p>\n

The pair came face to face on Thursday at their old hunting ground at Dale Youth Amateur Boxing Club where Groves inflicted that defeat on DeGale as an amateur.<\/p>\n

They are both unbeaten as professionals, with DeGale earning 10 victories and eight knockouts while Groves has 12 wins and 10 KOs.<\/p>\n

But while DeGale’s career has been full of publicity, the achievements of big-hitting Groves have slipped under the radar.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Please turn on JavaScript.<\/strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

On 21 May, the argument of who is better will finally resolved.<\/p>\n

“It all came flooding back when I walked through the doors again,” said DeGale.<\/p>\n

“All the blood, sweat and tears that it took for me to win that Olympic medal.<\/p>\n

“It also reminded me of just why I don’t like George Groves.<\/p>\n

“He thought he was going to the golden boy of British boxing, but he had to watch me get the glory instead.<\/p>\n

“I used to play with him sparring here, and I’ll play with him when we meet on 21 May.”<\/p>\n

DeGale, 25, says he hopes to fight for a world title by the time the 2012 Olympics begin and is not concerned by the threat posed by Groves.<\/p>\n

“His biggest weakness is his defence, he has no defence. No defence at all,” added DeGale, who has been sparring with Welsh light-heavyweight Nathan Cleverly.<\/p>\n

“He can’t box, he can’t fight on the ropes. He doesn’t know how to hold.<\/p>\n

“The inside fighting bit, he just can’t do it. Basically he is going to get battered or be a kip on the floor. That’s it.<\/p>\n

“Game over, ugly boy. You’re done. Finished, finito.<\/p>\n

“I’m off moving onto bigger and better things, you’re going to be a kip on the floor or just battered and bruised.”<\/p>\n

But Groves hit back by saying: “James knows that I can beat him, and that makes me a very dangerous opponent.<\/p>\n

“He’s a good fighter but I’m winning the mental war ahead of this fight.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got the psychological edge over him. I can see he’s worried. I spent so much time around him as an amateur that I can read him like a book.<\/p>\n

“And he is in for a very painful chapter of his life at the O2.”<\/p>\n

Opponent Groves attended Thursday’s press call with his trainer Adam Booth, who is best known as coach of WBA world heavyweight champion David Haye.<\/p>\n

DeGale believes Booth will have a major influence on Groves heading into the bout, but believes his opponent’s aptitude will not be able to match his attitude.<\/p>\n

“Remember his trainer is Adam Booth and I think he has a degree in psychology so obviously he is going to hype up his man, get into his head and stuff like that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He is going to be confident but, as I’ve said before, Georgey Groves has more balls than brains.<\/p>\n

“Please believe me. That is going to be his downfall.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Taken from:
\nDeGale and Groves renew rivalries<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Groves (left) beat Olympic champion DeGale as an amateur British super-middleweight champion James DeGale and opponent George Groves have renewed hostilities ahead of their clash at the O2 Arena on 21 May. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":416777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-419515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nDeGale and Groves renew rivalries - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/degale-and-groves-renew-rivalries\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"DeGale and Groves renew rivalries - 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