In an exclusive interview with Betideas, former WBA super middleweight champion George Groves warned Tyson Fury that his return to boxing might not go the way he wants it to. Saint George also poked fun at Andrew Tate after the controversial influencer was beaten on his boxing debut by Chase DeMoor…
Key highlights from the interview:
- Tyson Fury must get to the back of the line if he wants Usyk 🫵
- Jake Paul should fight Conor McGregor next, that’s his level 🍀
- I can understand why Usyk is calling out Deontay Wilder 💬
- Andrew Tate has been demoted from Top G to lower case g ⬇️
- Itauma will be taken into DEEP WATERS by Franklin 🏊
- Hamzah Sheeraz is Groves’ tip to win a world title in 2026 🥇
- Lopez vs Stevenson will be a great fight, it’s tough to call 🤔
Betideas: So your protege Lucas Roehrig is now in camp for his next fight?
George Groves: Yeah Lucas is back in the gym, back working hard and there is some fight news to announce for him real soon. He had a bit of a break over Christmas. I had a bit of a break, but we managed to get into some fantastic boxing events. We watched some fantastic boxing on TV. Lucas’ win in Brighton was the first time he’d gone eight rounds. It was against a tough French opponent in Brice Clavier, so we’ll see where to go from here. Clavier had a bit of success in the first couple of rounds. Lucas had to adjust, but he did and dropped him a couple of times. He got those invaluable rounds under his belt. It went to points, but it was a great performance from Lucas. I was really happy with it, opening the show for Channel 5 which was some great exposure for him. Hopefully we can march onto some titles this year.
Betideas: It looks like Tyson Fury is back in training, ready for a 2026 return. What do you think’s enticed him out of retirement this time?
GG: I have no idea. I mean, he’s very good at coming out of retirement and retiring and he’s done that a few times now. He’s definitely excelling in that division. I can sympathise a bit as an ex-fighter, where you finish boxing and you can’t be bothered, then all of a sudden there’s something that creates a bit of spark and a bit of interest. And then he wants to get back in the gym. The cynical part of us will always wonder is there some boxing politics at play? Did he have no chance of getting a particular type of fight on a deal that he wanted? And then it comes about? The fight that I think everyone wanted to see was him against Anthony Joshua and AJ has more than expressed an interest in that fight throughout the past 18 months. AJ has the Jake Paul fight, which is a mega fight, opening him up to a new audience.
He’ll be on everyone’s algorithm as he said. And then Tyson got a little bit jealous that it’s not him anymore. I might be getting the timeline wrong but I didn’t hear anything about Fury being interested in fighting until after Joshua’s involved in this horrific car crash where who knows whether he’ll even box again after being in that sort of accident? Now Tyson Fury says he’s coming back, so it’s peculiar timing. But if Tyson Fury is just thinking about Tyson Fury, he won’t care about anyone else’s timing. New year, new him! It looks like he’s back in the gym and fancies a run at 2026.
Betideas: One potential route to a world title for Tyson Fury would be Fabio Wardley…But that’s quite the risk for someone like Fury at this stage of his career isn’t it?
GG: Well, you think Fury would always be able to beat Fabio Wardley because he’s good at negating people’s attributes. And Fabio is a great fighter, but very limited in his skillset. He doesn’t have that pedigree of boxing. He’s fit, strong and determined. No quit in him. But you think Fury would be able to just negate it. But if he’s not in shape, if he’s way out of shape, then that could be a tall order for him. But write Wardley off at your peril. Also who knows whether Fury is the guy who can jump the queue now. Like maybe it’s all about Daniel Dubois or Moses Itauma, they’re the future. Moses Itauma is certainly the future and maybe Frank Warren and his team think,’we love you Tyson, but boxing moves on’. And maybe Tyson doesn’t get the chance to jump the queue. But it seems like there are a few other heavyweights out there that seem like they might be getting a queue jump to get a shot at Usyk.
Betideas: Usyk is talking about wanting to fight Deontay Wilder, can you understand why?
GG: I read that he’s breaking away from Riyadh season and he wants to box in the United States, and if you’re going to box in the States, then maybe Deontay Wilder is a really good fit. It’s a big fight that never happened. And maybe even if he beats Wilder now, it would still feel like their era isn’t quite overlapped and they were both there together. So yeah, it makes sense for Usyk. He doesn’t need to box Fury again and prove anything there. He doesn’t need to box Joshua again, Dubois again to prove anything there. So yeah, maybe if Usyk just wants to add another name to his resume and a big fight in the United States, Wilder could be the man. It seems like as soon as fighters finish, they get a new round of popularity.
They become likable. I think Derek Chisora, for instance, in the UK all of a sudden when people didn’t think he was going to be a world beater, just that he’s a hard bloke who wants to go out and have a fight and entertain, he became immensely popular. And with Wilder, we got to hang out with him in Dubai recently at an IBA event and he was really good fun. Really good guy. So if he does box again, I’d love to see him box again. It’s hard to believe sometimes that he was the heavyweight champion of the world. Because he’s like stick thin. I don’t know if he’s lost weight since, but obviously he’s super tall and has tremendous punch power. Incredible punch power. So I think Wilder has always been a frustrating one for me to watch. I’ve always thought he was missing some key fundamentals, and if he had them, what could his potential have been? He couldn’t pull the trigger. But time and time again if he did land that right hand, it would get him out of trouble.
Betideas: Do you think Wardley is similar in that he’s got that huge punching power?
GG: I think Wardley is big and strong, whereas Wilder is just stick thin and powerful. He’s got true equalizer power. It’s like that get out of jail card. I think Wardley has more of a mindset as well. There’s no quit in him.
Betideas: Do you think this will be the end of Anthony Joshua’s career now? He’s dealing with the tragedy of losing his two friends and surviving that crash. Do you think it will be hard for AJ to get back in the ring now?
GG: Yeah, if I’m being honest, I think it is. He’s conquered the world, he’s been involved in huge fights. He’ll have a life after boxing from your achievements and your fame from boxing. So what is there left for you to fight for? He always looks like he’s in shape, but he got himself fight-ready in a short amount of time to fight and beat Jake Paul. And he’s done really well. And it’s always nice when you break someone’s jaw. So I think the only thing he would’ve really been motivated by would’ve been a Fury fight. But now after what’s happened, I just don’t see it. I can’t imagine what the process would be. Because he seems like a deep guy, a deep thinker. He is going to have to come back. And I think it could take a while to get over this.
Betideas: Does Jake Paul get any credit in your eyes for surviving six rounds against Anthony Joshua, even though he was just basically running for the whole fight?
GG: No, not really. I mean, anyone who thought that Joshua could knock him out at any moment in any second. And if anything longer than 30 seconds would be a fix. No. If you come in here and the guy’s just absolutely running, then what chance have you got? But it looked like a nice big ring. I mean, Joshua didn’t look small in it. Credit to Jake Paul, to me he came out, he put on a show in terms of the buildup and ring walk. Once he got in there, I’m sure his game plan would’ve been to survive the first couple of rounds and try to nick a points win. You can’t hurt someone as big as Joshua. Joshua’s been hit by full blown heavyweights and Paul’s shots just bounced off him. But he gassed, didn’t he? He just wasn’t fit enough to sustain that. So that was disappointing. Because once he got there, then he looked like he was looking for a way out. He was falling over.
I think to Joshua’s credit, he was patient enough where he didn’t lose his cool. He didn’t miss too many shots. And then when the time came he landed a perfect right hand and broke his jaw. Because ultimately, Joshua was under pressure there. Because if Jake Paul’s fitter, he would’ve been able to elude and fiddle his way through the fight. And it could have gone to points, and Paul might have even got a couple of those rounds and then it’s like ‘wow, you had a split decision win over Jake Paul’. But he didn’t, he finished the job. And I think that the Paul team would do everything they can to paint a different picture. But if you watched it, you can’t be impressed by it.
Betideas: It wasn’t much of a spectacle really, was it?
GG: No, I didn’t get up for it, I woke up, found the result out, watched it but I think credit to Joshua really because the pressure’s on him to a certain degree and when everyone’s expecting you to knock someone out and then the person in front of you has no intention of fighting. Then the pressure can be on. But he kept his call and he landed those shots.
Betideas: Do you think Jake Paul will call it a day now?
GG: I don’t think so, I think he’s still got something to prove, who knows what goes on in Jake Paul’s mind. I’d love to be his therapist, and then get to the bottom of it and figure out what his issues are, what he’s running from, what he’s pretending to be, what his insecurities are because he’s genuinely trying to convince everyone that he’s a professional boxer when he’s clearly not. He’s a huge name, and he trains hard enough but he wasn’t fit enough to do eight rounds, he’s been a pro for how long? I know the guy’s bigger than you, but he wasn’t exactly using his weight, he wasn’t holding you, laying on you, pulling you down, he wasn’t wrestling with you, he was running. I think he’s trapped in that kind of conundrum of needing to bulk up, but then he’s slacking on the cardio side of it, maybe he can’t balance out. I saw a bit of a day in his life where he gets up, he trains, and then he’s in recovery and he’s eating and it looks like he’s got it all on point. That’s what top level athletes have when they’ve got the finance to have a private chef or have a personal gym and do their camps in warm weather training and stuff like that. So I think he’ll carry on boxing, I think he’ll box a Conor McGregor type, I think that makes sense, it’ll be another huge name who’s not a boxer.
Betideas: What about the argument that if Netflix had actually invested that amount of money in sort of grassroots boxing, rather than just pumping it into Jake Paul’s bank account and Anthony Joshua’s bank account, what a difference that could have made to the sport?
GG: Yeah, true. They could have put it into grassroots boxing, but if people don’t watch it, maybe it doesn’t kick on and it doesn’t work. But it’s a different model from Netflix. I’ve had Netflix from the get go, love everything they do and a lot of the time, I look forward to a new show that’s coming out but the shows they make are shows you want to watch over and over again and then you might have seen it a decade earlier, “Breaking bad should we have another run at Breaking Bad?” “Should we have another run at Ozark?” No one’s going to be saying, “should we watch that Jake Paul fight again?” I know any live boxing event when you’re watching it there and then, whether it be on your Netflix, TV or in the arena of course, but if you’re watching it there, it’s exciting, you don’t know what’s coming next. Only a few fights you’re happy to put on again and again and again. Froch Groves, that can go on. Stick that on Netflix if they can get a hold of it. Groves VS De Gale, one of the best fights you could ever watch live at the time when you were there because it was edge of your seat stuff. But when you watch it over and over again, unless you’re a die hard fan of me then you sort of just appreciate that this kid won it off the back foot.
Betideas: Jake Paul was originally going to fight Canelo. Do you think that would’ve been just a hilarious mismatch as well? Would that ever happen?
Betideas: Yeah, they’re saying that, but I don’t think Jake Paul would truly be up for that and I don’t think Canelo would do it. I don’t think he’d stoop to that level, he doesn’t need to. I think he’s now up for living out his days, but he might not fight again. I think he will fight, but he doesn’t need to. I don’t think he’d want to retire on a loss, but he’s never going to reach the heights of what he’s experienced before. He was a phenomenal fighter in his era and I wouldn’t want to see any more losses on his record, not that he’d get it against Paul, but I think just enjoy it, enjoy what you’ve achieved and he wouldn’t stoop to the level of boxing Jake Paul, because ultimately, unless he knocks him out and breaks his jaw quicker than Joshua, he hasn’t really won and he doesn’t need the money and doesn’t need the fame. Most fighters are trying to make something, they’re trying to raise their profile and raise their bank balance.
Betideas: Anthony Joshua was asked about his legacy after the fight and he said it means nothing to him. Do you think that’s him just trying to justify taking the Jake Paul fight?
GG: I would have loved it if he just said nah, I don’t need to stoop to that level, but he’s done it and it worked out for him because he broke his jaw and he knocked him out and shut him up. But it was a total mismatch, even if they were the same size it should be a mismatch, but they’re not even the same size, so it was a total mismatch. If Joshua’s got one eye on what his life is after boxing, wherever he wants to be, a TV presenter or something, movie star then it made sense. Good way to build your profile even bigger in America.
Betideas: Moses Itauma is fighting Jermaine Franklin on January 24th in Manchester. Is this a case of how long Jermaine Franklin survives or is there more to it than that?
GG: It might be the biggest test of Franklin’s career so far. I would like to see Moses have to go some rounds and I think they chose Franklin for that reason, they think he’s tough. He took Joshua rounds, he took Dillian Whyte rounds and they’re hoping he’s going to take Itauma rounds, I don’t think he’d be able to present any real challenges, Itauma is just too sharp. But Franklin’s durable and they’ll hope to take him into deeper waters and then see what Itauma’s condition is like. But, I think it is a good matchup if you are trying to build Moses Itauma, it makes sense. There was a period where it could have possibly been in line for a mandatory, and it was on. It was like, if you take those fights, then you are in the mix, you are one fight away from having to fight someone like Usyk and do you really need to fight Usyk now? Records don’t mean everything, they don’t pay the bills and Fabio Wardley right now hasn’t boxed in a world title fight, but he’s world champion, he could have had that fight. I was out in Dubai and I watched Gassiev beat Pulev for a WBA world title. So there are world titles knocking about. The bigger picture certainly for Moses Itauma, I think this Franklin fight is a really good one for him.
Betideas: Were you surprised to hear Terence Crawford retired from boxing? Obviously like an iconic career that he’s had won so many world titles?
GG: You wonder whether he just said what’s there left for it? To beat Canelo is extraordinary, really, if you think about it, for Canelo to go up to middleweight and complete the belts was extraordinary, so for Crawford to do it is almost mind boggling. We were in Dubai, Conor Benn was there and Crawford was there and I don’t know if there was chat about him possibly retiring and Conor Benn asked him, he’s like, “what else have I got to prove” I was like, yeah, fair point. Fair enough. I think he said he’s been boxing since he was seven years of age. There’s pictures of him and all his belts. He’s done it, there’s nothing he can do now that will enhance his status, I believe, because you just find something else to nitpick at. I think when people say he’s the best fighter of this era, it would be hard to go against, he didn’t look like he ever struggled. And he’s undefeated. That is the best way to go out. Like if you said name someone who would’ve retired on a better win, you’d struggle. Crawford going up two divisions beating Canelo? Who I’m certain he’s not past it, still fantastic, he could walk away at the top and I think maybe he should, but. The unified Super Middleweight Champion, you can’t say that he was past it, he’s beating everyone, he’s got everything, he stepped up to fight Bivol and it felt like a step too far and unless you’re just going to really handicap yourself and give away so much size, what’s the point.
Betideas: Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson collide at Madison Square Gardens on January 31st. Does that look like a good fight to you?
GG: That’s a great fight. That’s a really, really good fight. Teofimo Lopez has had his moments over the years but I think it distracts from his achievements in the ring. He’s only had one loss and that was quite a few years ago now against Kambosos and that felt like a shock loss at the time and since then he’s unbeaten and Shakur obviously moving up in weight, so there’s that to factor. I haven’t seen them stand side by side yet. Sometimes that’s a bit of a giveaway, so when Crawford’s moving up two weight divisions, but he stands side by side with Canelo, you’re like, “there’s not a lot of height difference” it doesn’t always feel like a bigger man. Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul of course. But I’m really looking forward to this fight. The bookie’s favorite, would that be Shakur Stevenson? I would’ve thought so, but probably pretty close, almost 50-50. But I don’t think it’d be risky to ever go against Teofimo Lopez.
Betideas: He hasn’t been the most active over the last few years.
GG: He was part of that mega show in New York, Haney and Garcia were there, so I was wondering whether that was a set up for that mix to fight each other, but that didn’t happen. So I think it’s a great fight.
Betideas: Who is the boxer that you believe will capture a world title this year, British or otherwise?
GG: Let’s go British. Hamzah Sheeraz, now campaigning at a super-middleweight. I think with the belt scattering, I believe he’s got a great shot to win one. He’s teamed up now with Andy Lee as well and he’s booked him really well. He had a great win against Edgar Berlanga. If that fight was happening this year, that might have been happening for a vacant world title. He had a fight with Adames but he didn’t really perform. And then we were like, okay, has he not performed or are we about to find his level? You never know. Boxing’s brutal like that. You know, boxing fans are weird. We’re quick to stick the knife in. He got away with the draw, but he’s so big. I think maybe he was a bit tight with the weight now. But at middleweight, I’d like to see him with a shot.
Betideas: Do you think Daniel Dubois has a shout of winning one again?
GG: Dubois, I’d like to see him fight Fabio Wardley, I think that’s a good fight. So Fabio has to win his next fight to feel like a true world champion. And I would say that about anyone. So that’s not a dig at Fabio, I just think that all fighters feel like that. They should get rid of the just elevating Interims to Worlds just because it’s vacant. I think you guarantee that your next fight is for the full belt. But you don’t deserve to be called a World Champion yet. In boxing, the business side has to take over sometimes. And then you will have champions who are tied up in legal battles or injuries who maybe can be a champion in recess. And we want the belt to be vacant. So you end up with two world champions, but ultimately they have to fight each other real quick so we can just have one world champion in each governing body, each weight I think that’s enough. So I think maybe Fabio Wardley is going to be the world champion you see this year.
Betideas: Ben Whittaker?
GG: No, Ben Whitaker won’t win a title this year. No. You know, the light heavyweight is tough. And all the belts tied up by the two big boys, it doesn’t seem like they’re going anywhere. If the belts do, maybe one belt might scatter, but you’ve got Benavidez there. I think Ben Whittaker, he’s got the potential, but there’s still some good domestic fights. I like to see him with Buatsi or Callum Smith, who are battle hardened now, let’s see him in with one of those guys. We saw Craig Richards have a great win over a domestic, against friend and rival Dan Azeez out in Africa last month. Richards, sometimes you look at him and you go, oh, looks pretty basic and people think that someone could do a job against him. And then they can’t. So I’d like to see how he would get on with that.
Betideas: We recently saw Andrew Tate lose a boxing match with his brand built on being the Top G. Is that a bit of a dent in his ego?
GG: He is sort of Lowercase G now, ain’t he? He’s a controversial character and a lot of people may believe in him, but don’t openly say that. A lot of people don’t and want to steer clear. I think it would’ve hurt a little bit. I’m surprised he boxed. I’m surprised he took the bout and then I thought, oh, maybe he’s a really good boxer. And then I saw clips of it and I was like, I don’t think he is. I didn’t see the fight. I saw clips of the fight, and he’s not, and he got beat and it was quite disappointing. I mean he gave away a lot of natural size against Chase DeMoor. Absolutely awful. I mean these guys, anyone, whatever, you want to get in the ring and spar, right? And then watch it back. And be honest with yourself. Because getting hit ain’t nice. But as a boxer, they don’t realize that because they’re so used to it, they’ve probably been doing it their whole life.
If I get in the ring now and I get hit, it won’t be the same as when I was a pro. I won’t like it, not that I liked it when I was a pro but it didn’t bother me. I had no feelings about it whatsoever. But now you get your head knocked back and you go, hold on, what is this? If you’re going to do that in front of a load of people in public and try to sell it as a paper view. Back to the drawing board for Andrew Tate perhaps. But you never know. Misfits is still going. I’ve bought into the Misfits boxing a little bit. I like the fact that I’m listening to the youth a little bit more and realizing that they know it’s not real boxing. They know it’s not professional boxing. But the word boxing is still on their horizon. That was always the panic that people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. But I think they can.
Betideas: Do you plan on watching the new Naseem Hamed film?
GG: Yeah. I’ve seen a bit of the trailers and I think it looks cool. I’m looking forward to finding out maybe a little bit more about Naseem Hamed, because he’s so famous for anyone of my age.
I was born in the late eighties, so I didn’t watch a lot of Naseem fights. I maybe never watched any live, but I had a couple of VHSs that Frank Warren would’ve put together. Bruno and Nigel Benn and Eubank and Naz throughout the nineties. It felt like his boxing came to an abrupt end. He had enough and then he just disappeared. He wasn’t interested in public life. We’ve seen him at events, his son’s box now. I think the family is still relatively involved in boxing. And I’m fortunate enough to meet him recently at a Boxing Board of Control Awards luncheon. And he was cool and he was full of beans and he presented an award from Frank Warren. I think they had a bit of a disagreement once upon a time. I think it was his Prince Promotions or something. He separated from Warren. So I’m looking forward to that. I like any boxing movie. I was at the George Foreman premier. That was a really good movie.
Betideas: And the follow up question, if you could turn one boxer’s life into a movie, whose would it be?
GG: I’m trying to figure if my boxing life got made into a movie, what would the movie be similar to? Who would star as a young you? I get asked that a lot. You’d love to say like some hip new sort of actor. I was seven. For Christmas, Santa brought me a punch bag and a set of weights. I don’t know if you would do that now. I don’t know if social services would ring. I remember at the time, I’d already watched Rocky. I wanted to be a boxer. I was big and strong and I couldn’t move my present. I was so ashamed. And my dad was like, oh, I’ll get that one out for you from under the tree, a set of weights from Argos. My dad still has them. He doesn’t throw stuff away. Bit of a hoarder, so probably gone into the garden shed somewhere. So that was my childhood really. I suppose it gave my mum ideas for Christmas, for Santa to bring me. always a pair of boxing gloves. We used to have them, they weren’t real gloves, they’re like ones you’d get at the arcade. My dad took me down. Charlie Magri had a shop on Carnaby Street to go and buy boxing gloves down there back in the day. They had one in Hammersmith too.
Betideas: Which other boxers’ lives would make a good movie?
GG: I want to find out what life for Gennady Golovkin was like before moving to America. I’ve seen the Klitschko documentary. That was pretty cool. But let’s have Usyk or Lomachenko. Or one of the Cubans, as long as it’s not in Spanish, because I can’t read the subtitles quick enough!