Trainer Shane McGuigan believes Liverpool’s Callum Smith will be a tougher test than Chris Eubank Jr when George Groves meets him in the final of the World Boxing Super Series.
Groves outsmarted Eubank Jr over twelve rounds at Manchester’s MEN Arena back in February. Attention now turns to the unbeaten Smith, who laboured past last-minute placement Nieky Holzken in the other semi-final.
Speaking candidly to Boxing Social, McGuigan said: “Yes, that’s definitely a more difficult fight. [Smith’s] got a good amateur background and boxed at an international level, and is fundamentally a better fighter [than Eubank Jr].”
The WBA King nullified Eubank Jr behind his much-heralded jab throughout the contest but dislocated his shoulder in the last round. The 30-year-old trainer recognised the injury and didn’t panic. He has, after all, been there before.
McGuigan said: “After David Haye snapped his achilles in the sixth round [against Tony Bellew], nothing’s going to phase you. His shoulder went out with two minutes left, I knew he [Eubank] didn’t have the power to take George out with one shot. And George was fresh enough to make him miss. I wasn’t really worried.”
Since splitting with trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick, Groves and Mcguigan have forged a successful partnership. Resting the demons of Groves’s three world title defeats – twice losing to Carl Froch and once to Badou Jack – the pair captured the WBA strap and remain an undefeated team.
Many experts picked Eubank Jr’s relentless engine to overwhelm the Hammersmith man, but McGuigan’s game plan and Groves’s execution came off without a hitch.
“He made him look clumsy, he made him look inferior. It was an easy fight for him, let’s be honest. Martin Murray was a harder fight than that. Tactically you know we just got it right,” said McGuigan.