“They are a funny little team, the Eubanks,” George Groves says wryly at the back of a restaurant in Wandsworth. The WBA super-middleweight world champion rocks in his chair as he considers Chris Eubank Jr and his famously verbose father, Chris Sr, by taking an amusing diversion from a bout which is likely to be fought with grave seriousness a week on Saturday in Manchester. Groves and the Eubanks understand the terrible dangers – for they have all left rivals in an induced coma and damaged by boxing.
The world championship fight between Groves and Eubank Jr, a semi-final in the World Boxing Super Series tournament that could see the winner meet Callum Smith in the final this summer, is likely to be another bitterly contested battle. But, in his last week of training, Groves is almost demob-happy as he contemplates the surreal Eubank double-act.
“I don’t know whether it’s Monty Python, the Office or Alan Partridge,” he says with a grin. “Actually it’s the Office. The dad is Ricky Gervais and the son is Gareth. And I’m Tim – the fellow who looks around at the camera and thinks, ‘Can’t anybody see what’s going on here?’
“Talksport did a video of Junior sparring and the dad decided, ‘I need to make this about me.’ But he embarrasses himself because he says: ‘Just go to the body’ – and Junior hits the kid straight in the chin. The lad he’s sparring has had two fights – won one, drawn one. But Junior looks terrible. He doesn’t even want dad there. You can see him thinking: ‘They’ve come down to video me, Dad. It’s not about you.’ I can imagine they have a really difficult relationship.”
Groves smiles when I ask what his wife, Sophie, whom he has known since they were at primary school, thinks of the Eubanks. “There is something about them that is a bit crazy – but Sophie had a soft spot for the dad because he’d said kind words about me once. After the fight against James DeGale [whom Groves beat in 2011] she took me out for a birthday lunch with my family to the Dorchester. I thought: ‘I know who I’m going to see today – Eubank Sr. Walking around. He’s always there, dressed as a waiter, and I don’t fancy a chat.’ Of course Eubank spotted me and he came over and said some lovely words. Sophie liked him and I felt he was all right.”
All three fighting men have suffered in boxing, primarily through the tragic hurt they have caused others, and it does not take long for Groves to become pensive. He believes Eubank Sr has alluded too much to the harm his son did to Nick Blackwell in March 2016. Groves and Blackwell had sparred intensively before that fight – and his friend had struggled. But Blackwell was brave and, against Eubank Jr, he endured a savage beating before the bout was stopped in the 10th round. Blackwell spent the next nine days in an induced coma. He recovered – only to put his health back in jeopardy after some illicit sparring eight months later.
That same month, in November 2016, Groves pummelled Eduard Gutknecht while outpointing him at Wembley Arena. The German refused to give in but he collapsed in his dressing room. Emergency surgery was carried out that night and when Gutknecht was brought back to consciousness five weeks later he could no longer function normally. He returned to Germany, mute and in a wheelchair.
The horror echoes the trauma suffered by Michael Watson in 1991 against Eubank Sr. Watson ended up in a coma and, all these years later, he is still marked by the consequences. It is in the bleak and grainy light of this shared history that Groves takes offence. “The dad has been extremely boisterous, trying to pressure the referee. Talking about his son needing someone to protect his opponents is a miserable thing to say. Out of the three of us, his dad and myself were more implicated in how badly we hurt people. Obviously Junior hurt Nick but the dad is trying to exploit this situation because he knows I don’t want to go down that route.
“The dad’s trying to keep himself relevant. And it’s also a ploy to aid his son. If Junior decides to pop me with a flurry of shots he’s hoping the referee will stop it prematurely. But from the evidence of the sparring there’s nothing to worry about. Even if there was, you would say such things behind closed doors. That’s what annoys me. He’s saying it every other tweet. Senior’s lost the plot, which often happens to people addicted to fame.”
I like Groves and, just as I felt awkward when questioning Eubank about Watson in 1991, it’s not easy asking the 29-year-old Londoner if he considered abandoning boxing after visiting Gutknecht. “I don’t think Gutknecht’s family will mind me saying they were really supportive of me. They said: ‘It’s a sport. We totally understand.’ But it’s heartbreaking because he’s got three kids. His sister came over after the fight – and she’d just had twins – to see him. I’ve been in touch since and we’ve sent money and stuff as a way of trying to support them.
“But there was a period where I thought: ‘I can’t wait until it’s over.’ I’ve got a family, a son, and I don’t want to be damaged. It happens but I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone else. But I’ve not got enough out of boxing yet. I haven’t earned enough money so I’ll keep boxing a while longer.”
Groves lost painfully, twice, to Carl Froch and also to Badou Jack in Las Vegas. He finally became a world champion at his fourth attempt when defeating Fedor Chudinov last May – but just before his elation was confirmed he had looked to the referee in an attempt to avoid a similar catastrophe to Gutknecht. “Don’t get me wrong, I wanted the fight over because I wanted to become world champion. But in the sixth I was landing big shots and he falls into me and I’m holding him. I look to the ref as if to say, ‘What do you reckon?’ It was that feeling of, ‘How many times do you reckon I’ve got to hit this guy?’
George Groves and Chris Eubank Jr face off for the press at the Savoy hotel. ‘Junior wants to move on from his dad and step into the light’ says Groves. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images via Reuters
“I would have kept throwing punches until the referee stopped me – but there was a relief afterwards. Chudinov is one of the toughest guys I fought. It was only the slump of his shoulders that made me think he’s hurt because there’s no grimace, or rolling eyes. He was never going down.”
What does he see when he looks into Eubank Jr’s haughtily impassive face? “He wants to move on from his dad and step into the light. He’s well rehearsed and whenever he wins he’s decided: ‘I’m going to show no emotion because that looks strong.’ It’s an act. I’m sure he’s a big-night fighter but will he truly be able to relish the big stage against a guy who has done it before? I am much bigger and hit harder than him.
“He’s got two ways to approach this fight. He could bounce around, be the showman and try to steal rounds. Or he’s going to try to fight fire with fire and walk through shots and hope he tires me. Neither will work and if he tries to fight me like Jamie Cox [stopped by a venomous Groves body shot last October] I can’t see how he’s going to handle me.”
Groves fought Froch in front of 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium. He was knocked out that night, in May 2014, but six months earlier he had dropped Froch and nearly caused a huge upset. Does this build-up replicate such intensity? “Not in the slightest. With Froch everyone was questioning me and I was trying to prove a point. But I don’t think this fight is anywhere near that level of difficulty. I am a much better fighter now than against Froch. Callum Smith [who fights Jürgen Brähmer in the second semi-final on Saturday 24 February] will be much more of a test than Junior. Callum is big, strong and punches hard. But he blows hot and cold. We’ll see how good he is if he makes the final.”
Groves celebrates winning a world title, at the fourth time of asking, by beating Fedor Chudinov at Bramall Lane in May 2017. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters
Groves will spend next week in Manchester – and face Eubank Jr and Sr as the hype goes into overdrive. He looks relaxed at the prospect. “Although you’re peaceful at home you might also be sorting out the bins. Sophie will come up for the weigh-in and we usually stay in the same room the night before the fight. Barry McGuigan [the former world champion whose son Shane trains Groves] is old school so he wouldn’t approve. But I want to hang out with Sophie. She knows the score and we can talk about anything but boxing – which is better than people asking, ‘How’re you feeling?’”
The Groves might be less amusing and more homely than the Eubanks – with nothing resembling David Brent or the Office in their chatter – but ordinary calm must help before another fight where glory and danger loom. “The Eubanks are very different,” Groves agrees. “If you look at the promotional videos they’ve done it’s a bit Homes Under the Hammer.”
Groves offers a detailed impersonation of Eubank Jr hamming it up for the camera and, as he laughs, it’s easy to forget the trouble they have all witnessed. In this pause before another serious fight breaks out, Groves smiles in the airy light. There will be time enough, next week, for gravity and darkness.