WBSS Super Middleweight Turmoil? – The World Boxing Super Series Middleweight Tournament is awaiting a plan and a schedule for the finals. The highly anticipated, European based tournament was announced in the middle of 2017 and they got the first two elimination rounds of the tournament done from September to March, with the finals targeted for the May or June timeframe. Brits George Groves and Callum Smith scored semi-final wins to make for a juicy rivalry bout for the Muhammad Ali trophy, but here we are in June and we got nothing.
The problems started immediately after George Groves’ February 17th UD win against Chris Eubank Jr to advance to the finals. Groves had suffered a separated shoulder in the match.
The latest on the fight is that Groves is having lingering effects from the post-fight surgery and the date being bandied about for the fight is now September. Right now it looks like the WBSS is buying into the delay and is leaning towards presenting Groves vs Smith later in the year.
WBSS Super Middleweight Turmoil?
But the WBSS wanted to hold true to the original dates. The tournaments had gone smoothly and on schedule through the first two rounds. The Cruiserweight tournament suffered a delay when front runner Oleksandr Usyk suffered an injury but there has been no talk of replacments in that one.
Word is that the WBSS has considered bringing in Chris Eubank Jr as a replacement for Groves. The bombastic and controversial Eubank Jr was Groves opponent in the semi-final round and in that fight, Groves rode his advantage in ringcraft to a relatively easy unanimous decision. Now his name came up as a potential opponent for Callum Smith.
Eubank Jr and Callum Smith would make for a big fight in the U.K. but the absence of Groves would diminish the WBSS a bit. The WBSS made the right decision in delaying the finals until the September timeframe.
Groves is the biggest star in the tournament. He has the pair of historic rivalry matches with Carl Froch under his belt and he has put in the hard work after those fights. In May of 2017 he captured the vacant WBA world title at 168 pounds and that win wa ssomething Groves and his fans had waited a long time for.
For his part, Smith comes from a fighting family and he has lofty goals for his career. At 24-0 he has remained undefeated in his pro career and he has gotten through the first two rounds of the WBSS without any real scares.
Groves shows the mileage of a lot of wars in the ring at times. He is slowing down and that is not good. Against Eubank Jr, he appeared to have defensive lapses at times though he makes up for it with a whole lot of boxing acumen at this point. Once Groves figured Eubank Jr out he knew he had the fight. He did have to survive a rough 12th round, but Groves showed he was te better fighter. CAn he do that against Smith as well?
WBSS Final – O2 Arena – London, England
Super Middleweight 12 rounds –
Callum Smith +125
George Groves -155
The World Boxing Super Series has also moved on, announcing a new tournament in the bantamweight division.
WBSS Super Middleweight Turmoil? / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science.
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