George Groves believes he is the firm favourite to defeat Martin Murray at London’s 02 Arena on June 25 and the Hammersmith-born boxer has vowed to prove to everyone this is true.
The British pair will go head-to-head in an eliminator for the WBA title as both fighters eye another shot at glory, having passed up numerous opportunities in previous years.
Murray has lost in four world title bouts – three at middleweight and one at super middleweight – and defeat next month would arguably end his hopes of ever lifting the belt.
The 33-year-old from St Helens, whose record is 33-3-1, was beaten by Arthur Abraham in 2015 but managed to bounce back with a TKO win over Cedric Spera last month.
Meanwhile, Groves has failed on three occasions to win the super middleweight crown after losing twice to the now-retired Carl Froch and once to Badou Jack last year.
Consecutive wins over Andrea Di Luisa and David Brophy have helped to get the 28-year-old back on track and he insists the fight will not be as even as many people think.
He said: “I can understand why people might think that but I believe that I’m the heavy favourite in this one and you’ll see why on fight night.”
Groves also expects Murray to retire from boxing when he ends up losing at the O2 next month.
“I think if he loses he will think about packing it in,” he added. “I can’t speak for Martin but he’s older than me and he’s exhausted all the natural things that a fighter can do to win a world title.”
Groves is the 1.44 favourite to win the fight, a draw is the outside chance at 21.00, while Murray is priced at 2.75 to triumph.
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