George Groves vs. Callum Smith’s WBBS Final is all set to land in the sandy deserts of Saudi Arabia; however contender Grove feels that competing at an unfamiliar location is putting pressure on his counterpart rival Callum Smith.
The two Britons are to face off each other on September 28 at Jeddah in order to grab the gold at Abdullah Sports City. The winner of World Boxing Super Series would be bringing home Muhammad Ali Trophy. The final venue has been announced after a long consideration about London, the Midlands, and Manchester as potential cities to host the final.
Groves, while talking about his upcoming bout agreed that an unknown location might prove challenging for him. However, he expressed that the foreign land would certainly makes things difficult for his challenger. Saint George has prepared the ground to successfully defend his accolade on third occasion in the sandy, bustling city of Arabian Peninsula. Groove’s title defense would mark the biggest bout after his encounter with Carl Froch in 2014.
This is what the 30-year-old Briton had to say to the media,
“Obviously, everybody wanted to be boxing in the UK and I wouldn’t have minded going to Manchester, and London would’ve been nice, but they decided to go to Jeddah and that’s fine with me.”
Callum Smith thinks of similar lines. The past few years saw him bathe in limelight at his home turf at Liverpool Echo Arena. However, he is last of these two fighters to have competed in foreign land recently, dispatching a defeat to Nieky Holzken in a semi-final bout in Germany.
Saint George, on the other hand, didn’t make an international appearance since past three years. The last time he fought other than his homeland was a sensational bout against Badou in Las Vegas. The fight brought forth a disappointing defeat for the 30-year-old boxer. However, with his shoulder injury healed, he has started with is sparring, and is prepped up to mark his debut appearance in the “land of hot sand.”
The fighter went on to say,
“I have some friends who have been out there for events and it’s not really a tourist destination, but luckily a good friend of mine is well connected out there, so our accommodation is sorted and we have our own gym sorted, so a few things that could be stressful have been eradicated.”
