.jpg)
Former 168-pound titlist George Groves has seen far better versions of Chris Eubank Jr. than the one that recently showed up in the ring against Liam Williams.
Eubank scored four knockdowns en route to winning a fairly comfortable 12-round unanimous decision over Williams in their middleweight bout at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales. To Groves, however, there were several rounds where Eubank (32-2, 23 KOs) was clearly getting outworked by Williams (23-4-1, 18 KOs).
“I wasn’t very impressed,” Groves told Boxing Social. “I didn’t think it was very good. He was in full control, he had Williams hurt real early, dropped him.
“Eubank spent a vast majority of the fight out of position, not in a position to punch.”
Groves, of course, has a unique perspective on this matter. As someone who fought – and won – against Eubank, Groves’s statement perhaps carries a bit more weight than the average commentator. Groves seems to think that Eubank, who is trained by Roy Jones Jr., has regressed, despite all the knockdowns he scored over Williams.
“I know he’s been working with Jones and there are certain things traits of him that he is trying to incorporate into his game and he’s got that both hands [down], drifting forward, trying to [throw] pull-back [counters], but he’s not in a position to throw a real punch,” Eubank said. “Nine times out of 10 he’s wandering around out of range, his legs are not in position where he can land a punch. At best he might get a shot, a counter in as Williams plunges forward.”
Groves remembers a much more fundamentally sound Eubank back when Groves was still a prizefighter. Groves beat Eubank in their gutsy 2018 encounter in the semi-final leg of the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament.
“As a whole, technically not very good at all from Eubank, and Eubank used to be,” Groves said. “He was very sharp on his feet, and he had very good hand speed, and he threw technically very good punches, especially uppercuts. The technique was there because he could throw combinations. But the combinations [against Williams] were a bit ragged. He missed the target a lot.
“Eubank should have finished that fight in the early part of the rounds and near the end he just lost the plot. All the showboating, not my cup of tea.”
Groves went so far as to say that had middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin fought against Williams, he would not have beaten around the bush. The Kazakh puncher has long been a target of Eubank.
“If Golovkin was in the ring there with Williams he would’ve stopped him early, like he wouldn’t be messing around,” Groves said. “He wouldn’t be out of position, he’s always marching these guys down, always in a position to punch. [It] could have been a nightmare for Eubank [had Golovkin been in there].”
Groves, however, maintained he still thinks highly of Eubank.
“I’ve got a lot of time for Eubank,” Groves said. “I appreciate him. I’ve seen a lot better from him.”