The Rubik's Cube

Elliot Worsell reveals the complexities of George Groves mind. Its a puzzlethe fighter solved a long time ago and its why hes now so hard to beat.

- Elliot Worsell

TEN years ago, George Groves was preparing to make his professional debut in a six rounder against a Lithuanian and busy doing what he does best: thinking.

He thought about his first six-rounder, he thought about the quickest route to North Greenwich’s O2 Arena, he thought about Kiril Psonko, his opponent, and he thought there was no need to be nervous because boxing history, as well as their respective records, ensured he was a near-enough guaranteed victor on that November night in 2008.

Moments before the first bell, he did a lot more thinking. He thought about what it meant to have been late to the venue, thanks to the Jubilee line being closed, and thought it was strange, a bad omen perhaps, that he, this stickler for punctuality, had ended up being delayed ahead of his pro boxing debut. He thought about how he typically liked to warm up “ridiculously early” and didn’t like to feel rushed. He thought about the similarities he shared, in that respect, with his father, Donny, and wondered if that’s where he got it from. “It’s so unlike me,” he would tell himself, before then thinking about how small the gloves on his hands felt and how different they seemed to the ones he’d worn en route to two ABA middleweight titles.

Soon, he was thinking about walking down stairs in the dark, something he’d done many times before, and reckoned because it was dark it would be entirely natural to suddenly lack confidence and be unsure of his footing. He thought about the fear of missing a step or treading on a pin, he thought about the doubt, and he thought about how the process of preparing for a pro boxing debut shared many similarities with walking down stairs in the dark.