James DeGale and George Groves moved one step closer to settling their long running rivalry after Hayemaker broke the British record with a £400,000 purse bid.
Michael Coldwell, head of boxing at Hayemaker, beat off competition from Frank Warren for the right to stage the first defence of DeGale’s British super-middleweight title.
‘Chunky’, whose record stands at 9-0, outclassed Paul Smith in front of his home crowd at the Echo Arena in December to claim the Lonsdale belt, stopping the ‘Real Gone Kid’ in the 9th round.
He set his sights on a WBA title shot against German-based Kazakh Dimitri Sartison, but must first avenge the defeat he suffered as an amateur at the hands of ‘The Saint’.
Commonwealth champion Groves, who is two years younger than his counterpart, was sluggish in beating Kenny Anderson at the M.E.N Arena in November, but has shown genuine quality since beginning his professional career.
He came through the tough fight with a 6th round TKO, improving his record to 11-0.
There is no secret made of the unbeaten fighters’ dislike for each other, stemming from when they came through the amateur ranks at Dale Youth ABC, in Kensington, London.
They have both talked about how much they want the fight to go ahead, and now the ball is now in DeGale’s court.
The highly anticipated bout must take place before April 11th, and should DeGale refuse to fight Groves, the Olympic gold medallist could face being stripped of his title.
Tony, Old Swan around 1 year, 3 months ago