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George Groves has assured Callum Smith that the jab is coming
The World Boxing Super Series super-middleweight final will take place on Friday night in Saudi Arabia and much of the pre-fight discussion has focused on Groves’ left shoulder.
The reason it has taken so long to get Groves and Smith into the ring together was the dislocated shoulder suffered by the former in his semi-final victory over Chris Eubank Jr. in February.
Groves was set to fight the undefeated Smith in June but needed some extra time to recover from the injury to his left shoulder, which took place in the final round of his unanimous decision win last time around.
Where @StGeorgeGroves dislocates shoulder. #GrovesVsEubank pic.twitter.com/sdHfb7y62p
— Robert (@REGZY1) February 17, 2018
‘Saint George’ powered through and retained his WBA (Super) super-middleweight title with the win over Eubank Jr. and is favoured to provide the first blemish on Smith’s flawless record when they share the ring in King Abdullah Sports City this weekend.
And while many have suggested that Groves’ shoulder could not possibly have returned to 100 per cent in time for Friday’s all-British showdown, the 30-year-old is fully confident in his left hand.
“The shoulder couldn’t be any better,” Groves assured. “I’m fantastic with my jab, with my left arm.
“And if it wasn’t the same then I wouldn’t be the same fighter. We worked very hard to make sure it would come back to life, as it should do. And it is. It’s a strong shoulder. It’s a stable shoulder. It does the job.
“I’m not going to bore everyone with the details of everything.
“It’s been a long, hard road back but I believe it’s as good as ever. We’ve got no concerns over the left shoulder.
“The additional time that we’ve been given to prepare for this date, with it being pushed back to September, meant that we had even more time to get ready so we’re in a great place.”
Liverpool’s Smith progressed to the final via a unanimous decision victory over Nieky Holzken seven months ago and his team has been meticulously examining Groves’ game ahead of the fight.
But if Smith, who was the tournament favourite before it began, was thinking that Groves would be tentative with his jab in light of his dislocated shoulder, he’d be very wrong.
“Obviously after the severe injury he’s had, he’s been doing all of the corrective exercises, all the rehabilitation work, band work and seeing all the top guys in London,” Groves’ coach Shane McGuigan said.
“You could see there today it’s coming back fast and at the start there wasn’t much weight in the shot but now he’s starting to get the weight back in the jab, he must have done 300 jabs there today, just constantly drilling it and drilling it to try to get as much speed going in that left shoulder as possible.
“We’re working on certain combinations which are going to work for us against Callum Smith.”
