George Groves highlights the one way Chris Eubank Jr can beat James DeGale
GEORGE GROVES has revealed he's picking Chris Eubank Jr to beat James DeGale tonight.
DeGale and Eubank Jr will vie for the vacant IBO middleweight title in front of a packed crowd at the O2 Arena.
The pair’s showdown has been dubbed by many as a ‘retirement fight’ given the respective points the combatants are at in their careers.
Eubank Jr, 29, has failed to step up to the plate on the biggest nights of his career, most recently against Groves.
DeGale, meanwhile, is starting to look like a shell of the fighter who the IBF middleweight crown in May 2015 with a dominant victory over Andre Dirrell.
JAMES DEGALE VS CHRIS EUBANK LIVE: FOLLOW THE FIGHT FROM THE O2 ARENA
And add in the fact DeGale’s last outing on home soil saw him lose the IBF title, which he later reclaimed and vacated, in an unconvincing performance against Caleb Truax, you’ve got all the ingredients for a truly compelling fight.
Groves shared the ring with both men during his storied career, which he called time on last month.
And ‘Saint’ is picking the younger fighter - Eubank Jr - to get the job done tonight.
“I think Eubank [wins] because if they’re both in their primes DeGale would beat him pretty comfortably but DeGale never seems to be fully fit,” he told Boxing News.
I think Eubank because if they’re both in their primes DeGale would beat him pretty comfortably but DeGale never seems to be fully fit,
“He always finishes fights and says he was 30%, he has mad percentages, I don’t know how he works it out.
“He hasn’t looked great in the last two years, I think the Badou Jack fight took a lot out of him.
“I think he stays pretty light between camps because he struggles with the weight and that’s actually had a negative effect on him, it ages him.
“Eubank was riding the wave before he fought me which made him a dangerous fighter but then he lost. He gets so much stick. You’ve got to be ridiculously strong-minded to put up with that. Every now and again he lets it slip.
“He’s brought in a new coach, if it’s a coach he listens to partially, where he might impart some advice now and again, that will work well for him because I don’t think he’ll have full confidence in a coach, certainly not for one fight, it would have to be an accumulation of time to build up a rapport.
“I think James DeGale goes to sleep between rounds, during rounds, before and after the fight.
“He switches off after a certain amount of time and if Eubank lays it on him he’ll rack up the rounds.”