George Groves is still hopeful he will be fit to take part in the super middleweight World Boxing Super Series semi-final. Groves suffered a debilitating injury to his shoulder in the final round of his gruelling encounter against Chris Eubank Jr last night.
‘The Saint’ was essentially a one armed fighter as the fight drew to a close. Groves had used his ring IQ and boxing skills to amass point tallies of 117-112, 116-112, 115-113, unanimous decision.
He will now await the winner of the other semi-final between Juergen Braehmer and Callum Smith for the Muhammad Ali trophy final in June.
The Londoner is still confident he will be able to be fighting fit for the final and does not expect the injury to be a “big problem.”
He told iFL TV on Sunday: “The shoulder is okay. I hope it was clear it popped out in the 12th round last night. It went a bit skewiff.”
“It is one of the most painful injuries I have had but it is back in now. I had some X-rays last night and will see a specialist either later today or tomorrow.”
“Hopefully, it isn’t going be a big problem. It will only be a problem if you damaged a bone from my understanding, but the X-ray last night didn’t show any of that.”
#AndStill WBA Super Middleweight Super Champion @StGeorgeGroves 🥊 #GrovesEubankJr#GrovesEubankpic.twitter.com/EVHr7RZunJ
— WBA Boxing (@WBABoxing) February 17, 2018
Groves did not jump the gun however and did not implicitly state that he will definitely be fit for the final.
Regarding his fitness for the Super Series final, Groves added: “It is impossible to know at the moment.”
“June 2 isn’t that far away – it is about 14 or 15 weeks away. We’ll seek advice from the specialist and see how long until I can get back punching, because if there is other stuff I can get on with, I will.”
On a final note, Groves once again reaffirmed his belief that his ability to heal quickly combined with his clean lifestyle will hold him in good stead on the road to recovery.
“It doesn’t take me long to get fit and this competition has kept me sharp and focused and functioning properly.”
“I broke my jaw in May and was boxing in October. I always heal quickly, I live a clean life;” Groves concluded.
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