Throughout the short history of the Super Middleweight division the Brits have always been amongst the best in the world, in fact the first ever Super Middleweight champion was Britain's very own Murray Sutherland (who was the IBF champion back in 1984). Since Sutherland we've seen British champions such as Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Robin Reid, Richie Woodhall, Joe Calzaghe and current champion Carl Froch. With this in mind it should be little wonder that Britain currently has some of the top Super Middleweight prospects, including the unbeaten and very highly regarded "Saint" George Groves (14-0, 11).
The 24 year old Groves from Hammersmith, London first made his name in the amateurs where he became a 2-time ABA champion. It was whilst still fighting as an amateur that Goves and fellow British prospect James DeGale first crossed paths with the two men now having a heated rivalry which has crossed over into the professional ranks.
Groves turned professional debut following his 2008 ABA Middleweight triumph and debuted in November 2008 under the "Hayemaker" banner. On his debut Groves defeated Kirill Psonko out pointing him over 6 rounds on the same card as David Haye faced Monte Barrett.
Following his successful debut Groves was kept active stopping Romaric Hignard in 3 rounds in February of 2009 and then stopping hard hitting Brit Paul Samuels in a single round the following month. Amazingly by the end of 2009 Groves had managed to run his record to 7-0 (5) and had managed to show case his talents not only in his native UK but also in Germany as he out pointed the teak tough Kanstantsin Makhankou (UD8) on the undercard of David Haye's WBA Heavyweight title fight with Nikolay Valuev.
Groves would step up considerably in 2010 and after stopping Grigor Sarohanian (TKO3) in his first fight of the year he would go on to claim the Commonwealth Super Middleweight title by destroying the teak tough Charles Adamu in an incredibly impressive display that really put him on the map. Later the same year Groves made his US debut by stopping Alfredo Contreras (TKO6) before being involved in a war with Scottish hardman Kenny Anderson. Against Anderson (who had been given little notice for the fight) Groves was dropped twice before stopping a tiring Anderson in 6 rounds. It's the bout with Anderson that still looms over Groves' head as a professional with many feeling Groves was incredibly lucky to escape the bout with win.
In 2011 Groves managed to record another 3 wins. Firstly Groves stopped the tough Daniel Adotey Allotey (TKO4) before managing to score a notable (and controversial) majority decision win against former amateur rival, and Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale. The victory over DeGale, in what was a highly anticipated bout saw Groves maintaining his unbeaten record whilst inflicting the first professional loss to DeGale. The DeGale bout also saw Goves unifying his Commonwealth title with the British Super Middleweight title to become the #1 fighter domestically (and only behind Carl Froch in terms of Top British fighters in the division). Groves would defend both titles once, stopping former British champion Paul Smith in 2 rounds.
Since beating Smith Groves' career has been really disappointing as he's pulled out of a number of fights with various injuries. Amongst those bouts that he has pulled out of was a rematch with Kenny Anderson and a world title bout with Robert Stielgltiz. Groves however does look set to return to the ring this coming weekend as he's scheduled to face hard hitting Mexican Francisco Sierra (25-5-1, 22) and if he wins he is expected to fight again in September in Wembley. Against Sierra, Groves will go in as the favourite though he will need to be careful not to be caught by Sierra who has got genuine power and is actually going into this bout on the back of an upset against the previously unbeaten Rogelio Ruvalcaba.
Groves, trained by Adam Booth, is seen by many as a future world champion and at just 24 years old he has got a lot of time to pick up a title, though he does still make mistakes that Booth will need to iron out sooner rather than later.
The video below is thanks to JSFIGHTTV
