Former Amateur, British, Commonwealth, European and World Champion George Groves had his say on the potential heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Groves is no stranger to the big stage. In 2018 he was ranked as the world’s best active super middleweight by The Ring magazine, and he had plenty of marquee nights in the sport to back that up. One of his biggest, however, was a loss in the rematch with foe-turned-friend Carl Froch at Wembley Stadium.
Now, there’s talk of another all-British stadium event. The Fury-Joshua fight being made is looking evermore positive, especially according to those at the negotiating table, although some in the sport have said that it’s the wrong move for ‘AJ’ after such a recent loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
‘Saint’ George doesn’t agree. Speaking to Boxing Social, he explained why it’s a win-win situation for the challenger.
“I think it’s a good fight for him. If someone’s going to offer you a world title fight – and it’s a huge fight – go for it, why not? You can mess about for another year having knock over fights but he’ll only end up getting slated for it. Might as well just go straight back in with Fury.
It’s a win-win for him in terms of what people actually perceive of him right now. He won’t be the favourite going into it, so if he wins, he’s a hero, if he doesn’t, no harm no foul.”
It’s an interesting take, and one which Joshua may believe himself. He accepted Fury’s offer to fight without hesitation and things have progressed quickly from there, with the challenger agreeing to all of the terms put forward by the champion.
As for the outcome, Groves floated the idea that it might be the perfect time to face the WBC Champ, who has been in and out of retirement since his win over Dillian Whyte in April.
“Fury’s “retired”, so it might be the right time to fight [him.] He [Joshua] might catch him off guard. Who knows?”
Nobody knows for now, but, as things stand, we may find out on December 3 in Cardiff.