WBA Super Middleweight Title
World Boxing Super Series Final
Watch on DAZN Friday Sept 28
-This is a very interesting fight. I believe it will be very competitive and will be close. Groves is coming off a shoulder injury which pushed this fight back a couple months and is coming off an impressive decision win against Chris Eubank JR. Overall Groves has fought the better competition although he came up short in most of them. Two KO losses to Carl Froch and a points loss to Badou Jack were his first three shots at a world title before he finally prevailed and won it. None of those losses are anything to be ashamed of. He was competitive in all of them and Froch and Jack are both very good fighters. Callum Smith is undefeated and this will be his first world title shot. Trained by one of the top trainers in the sport, Joe Gallagher and coming from a fighting family, several brothers of his are highly ranked pros, I expect him to be ready. He is definitely the fresher fighter and injury free compared to Groves having been in several really tough fights and coming off the shoulder surgery which I mentioned earlier. An interesting side note to this fight is it will take place in Saudi Arabia, a first as far as I know.
Prediction
-This is tough to call. Both guys have good skills and have solid fundamentals. The safe pick would be Groves. He has fought at a higher level for longer and is coming off a good win against Eubank. I am leaning toward Smith though. Groves, I feel , may start to feel the effects of a lot of tough fights and he also is coming off surgery on his shoulder. Smith has had a lot of time to prepare, is injury free and hungry for a world title. I do not think that Smith will stop Groves though. Both guys are good punchers but not great punchers. I think the fight will go 12 no matter who wins.
Pick- Smith by Split Decision
-Random thoughts and Ideas
-With HBO today announcing they are leaving boxing it was surprising to many people. The writing has been on the wall for a little while though. For the past several years Showtime has been getting the better of that head to head battle and with the reemergence of big fights on free tv people did not need HBO anymore to watch good fights. Fox and ESPN have made a huge commitment to boxing for the years to come and this is all a positive for the sport. Another service which is getting into the boxing business aggressively is the emergence of streaming services such as ESPN+ and DAZN. I have both and have come to like them although I was hesitant at first. ESPN+ has shown good fights and the quality of the video is very good although I am not a fan of the site because there is a ton going on and it can be hard to navigate through and find what you are looking for. At 5 dollars a month though it is a bargain for the content they have. DAZN is the newest one to come out and was started by Eddie Hearn, a British promoter who quickly is becoming one of the most powerful in the sport. Last weeks heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Povetkin was the first fight to be televised by DAZN and it was a good one. The Groves-Smith fight this weekend is also on DAZN and many more big fights to come will be there as well. Unlike ESPN+ the site is very easy to navigate and find what you are looking for, I had zero problems using it. Getting started is easy as well, just go to DAZN.com, give an email and a password and you are in. The first month is free and is 10 dollars a month after. Looking at the fighters Eddie Hearn has and the upcoming schedule it will be a very well spent 10 dollars.
-After watching Anthony Joshua stop Povetkin in the 8th last week my opinion has not changed on the outcome of him versus Deontay Wilder if that fight ever does happen. I still think Wilder knocks him out. Povetkin was very competitive through 7 until he got caught. That is ok though, Povetkin is a very good fighter. Joshua is technically a superior fighter to Wilder. But he stands very straight up and does not move his head. If he is open for anything it is a straight right hand down the middle behind a jab. That is the combination that Klitschko put him down with and it is Wilder’s best punch. And Wilder is the biggest puncher in the heavyweight division today. In order to get to this fight though Wilder has to get past Tyson Fury first. They will fight DEC 1 in Los Angeles and this is very interesting. I am leaning toward Wilder but I do not think it will be easy.
-Lots of good boxing this weekend. Here is the lineup:
Friday September 28
-ESPN+ Jose Uzcategui vs Ezequiel Maderna
Jerwin Ancajas vs Alejandro Santiago IBF junior bantamweigh title
Friday September 28
-Showtime 945 pm
Devin Haney-Juan Carlos Burgos
Thomas Mattice vs Zora Hamarzyan
Friday September 28
-DAZN
George Groves - Callum Smith
Saturday Sept 29
-Facebook Watch 9 pm
Jorge Linares vs Abner Cotto
Sunday Sept 30
-Fox Sports 1- 9 pm
Brandon Figueroa vs Oscar Escandon
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