Filed under: Boxing
For once, do believe the hype. The needle between James DeGale and George Groves is as real as it gets in boxing pre-fight thrash talking as the pair get ready to face each other in a super-middleweight domestic dust-up for the British and Commonwealth titles.The usual script in these promotional insult exchanges is that tempers boil over, the boxers square-up at the press conference and almost come to blows at the weigh-in. We've seen it all before.
But the ending to these somewhat childish forays is that when the final bell rings, the boxers hug, shake hands and both praise each other for their remarkable skills which they had quite ferociously dismissed before the bout began.
Not this time. Not with DeGale and Groves as it seems there is simply too much history and too many insults to overcome this time.
The apparent hatred runs deep and goes back to their amateur days when they both trained at the same club - Dale Youth.
Their old coach revealed this week that they used to be friends once despite their claims they never were, but even if there was any relationship then, it disintegrated the night the 18-year-old Groves beat the more experienced amateur DeGale in 2006.
It was in the northwest London ABA championships with only a couple of hundred, if that, watching on in Brent Town Hall - a far cry from the 20,000 who are expected to be in attendance when the pair lock horns in the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night.
But Groves won a contentious decision against DeGale who was already a Commonwealth medallist in what has now become one of the most talked about regional amateur bouts in history.
Despite his victory, the younger Groves was still behind DeGale in the pecking order for international selection and that's where the real animosity stems from.
DeGale went on to win gold at the Beijing Olympics as Groves could only look on and think of what could have been.
Since the pair turned professional, they have been on a collision course in the paid ranks and it's a refreshing change to see two young British boxers are going to slug it out at early stages of their careers rather than waiting until they're past it.
But what isn't so refreshing is the tiresome and childish bickering that has gone on.
Frank Warren is promoting the event, but he's hardly had to lift a finger to sell this as the pair's exchanging of verbal blows has grabbed so much interest that Nathan Cleverly's world title tilt against WBO light-heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer, which is on the same bill, has been left in the shadows.
DeGale has referred to Groves as a "moron" and the "ugly kid" countless times since the fight was announced while the latter is ready to teach "DeFail" and the "smug" British champion a lesson when he puts his Commonwealth belt on the line.
It's made the exchanges between heavyweights David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko last week look gentleman-like and that's saying something.
Haye will actually be involved in this clash as he will be holding the spit bucket for his protégé Groves in the corner, but in the nature of this build-up, DeGale laughed that off and even managed a few more insults.
He said: "It will make victory all the sweeter because I don't like Haye much either. At least Haye's got a world title. Groves has got nothing but an ugly face. He's just a wannabe who lives off Haye's name.
"I read on Sunday that Haye compared me to Audley Harrison. Well we both won Olympic gold, but that's where the similarities end.
"Harrison was a phoney but I'm the real deal, and Haye and his puppet Groves are going to find that out on Saturday night."
On Saturday night the verbal tirade will finally stop and punches will at last decide who is actually the best out of the two but don't expect them to agree with the outcome, no matter how conclusive.
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