George Groves is just 15 fights into his professional boxing career, yet tomorrow night the Londoner must prove his world championship potential against 70‑bout veteran Glen Johnson.
Groves, 24, defends an unbeaten record and his Commonwealth super-middleweight title at the ExCel Arena in the Docklands knowing that Johnson has shared the ring with some of the sport’s great names, including Roy Jones Jnr, who he stopped in nine rounds.
The 43-year-old Jamaican also beat Clinton Woods for the IBF light‑heavyweight title, only to lose the return on a split decision, and was pipped by another Briton, Carl Froch, on a majority verdict as part of the Super Six super‑middleweight tournament last summer.
Along the way he lost a total of 17 fights but Johnson failed to go the distance only once and that was against Bernard Hopkins 15 years ago.
Adam Booth, Groves’s trainer who guided David Haye to cruiser and heavyweight world championships, said: “To be a genuine world-class fighter you’ve got to have all the tools in the box and you have to know when to use them.
“Glen has seen everything there is to see in a ring. So it is a challenge for George to keep adapting in this fight. That is what you have to do when you get to a higher level.
“You have to constantly make little adjustments, while the guy who you’re fighting is making adjustments to you. That is probably one thing that Glen probably does better than anyone else, he keeps making those subtle adjustments.
“That is what I’m most excited about because this fight gives George a chance to prove he understands everything he says he understands.”
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