By: Ste Rowen
In the third Super Middleweight Quarter Final of the World Boxing Super Series, George Groves stepped up his claim to be the number one, Super Middleweight in Britain and the world as ‘The Saint’ landed a perfect body shot to stop Jamie Cox in the fourth round.
Cox, 24-0-0 heading into the bout, was looking to make a statement from the start, rushing into the bigger man from the first bell and forcing the WBA Champ onto the backfoot. Groves remained composed though as he blocked and deflected Cox’s best efforts through round two.
It became a scrappy affair at the end of round two and through round three as the smaller man, Jamie Cox, looked to rough up Groves. But again, his efforts went wanting, as Groves remained superior. Cox unloaded at an impressive pace but Groves ate up the punches and remained the more clinical of the two fighters.
Going into the fourth, it was more of the same with Cox looking to establish some kind of superiority until, as Cox continued to unload, he left himself open to the body and Groves, now 27-2-0, sent a crunching right hand that folded Jamie Cox in half and ended the bout.
Speaking at the post fight press conference Groves said, ‘I fought I boxed really, really well. I knew Jamie had tremendous heart, lots of balls. He walked through big shots that I was landing, so he was always dangerous. He certainly deserves to be at this level. We had fun and games in the buildup. I put him down a little bit but I knew that he was better than what I was saying but I think I boxed tremendous tonight, there’s always room for improvement. If anyone was down with whether I was a flash in the pan world title win, I think they know now that I mean business.’
On the upcoming semifinal and facing Eubank Jr, the WBA Champion said, ‘This Eubank Jr fight, I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. I’m very excited about it. Eubank’s improved over the years but he hasn’t boxed anyone on my level. I know if I box like I did tonight, he doesn’t stand a chance. The fight fans out there now are excited about what’s coming. I’m excited.’
The Groves v Eubank semifinal is set for early 2018.