BOXING: George Groves reverts to former fighting style in quest for world title

The super-middleweight will be fighting for the first time since the appointment of Shane McGuigan as his new trainer and since his third professional defeat, to Badou Jack for the WBC title in September.

He had been the favourite to beat Jack, when Paddy Fitzpatrick was his trainer, but he has since split with the Irishman who worked with him from before the first of his two fights with Carl Froch and who had since overseen three defeats in five.

Before working with Fitzpatrick when he was trained by Adam Booth, Groves was undefeated as a professional and, using his impressive speed, power and mobility, was widely considered one of the British fight scene’s finest prospects.

His punch resistance has long been a vulnerability, however, but “Since working with Shane, he’s got me back to the things that work best for me,” 27-year-old Groves said ahead of Saturday’s fight at London’s Copper Box Arena.

“I punch at long range again, I punch at mid-range, we look to hit hard and hit fast, and set up power shots. That’s pretty much what you’re going to see on fight night.

“(Working with Fitzpatrick) you end up trying to change your own mind (that it will work), or change someone else’s mind, prove that I’m a good fighter regardless, not that I was a good fighter because I worked with David Haye, or I worked with Adam Booth.

“I’m a good fighter anyway, ultimately I’ll now prove that working with Shane.

“Hopefully people will see the difference that I’ve noticed straight away in training, that the sparring partners have noticed in sparring, that I’m a different sort of fighter now.”

Groves produced arguably the finest performance of his career in his first fight with Fitzpatrick when he came close to defeating Froch before controversially being stopped.

In the rematch with Froch he also impressed before the knockout, but since then has appeared uncharacteristically sluggish and wasted a fine opportunity to become a world champion when losing to Jack, widely considered one of the world’s most beatable titlists.

“Paddy’s style of training never suited me, and he had lots of other downfalls as well,” Groves said. “He’s a bit bitter at the moment, actually.

“He’s cost me fights. I was unbeaten before I worked with him, then I had five fights and three losses, three world-title losses, against guys who aren’t even better than me. My performances deteriorated working under him.

“He was encouraging me to fight a way that didn’t suit me; his professionalism is appalling. Halfway through my fight with Badou Jack he turns to my wife in the front row and says ‘What round is it?’. You’ve only got one job to do on fight night! He was probably out of his depth.

“(Now) it’s nice to surround myself with world-class people, world-class fighters, world champions, former world champions, former world champions, and see what I can pick up from those guys as well.”