George Groves has revealed that he broke his jaw in the third round of his world title win last Saturday night at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
Groves became a world boxing champion in his fourth attempt when he stopped Fedor Chudinov in the sixth round for the vacant WBA super middleweight belt in the co-featured bout to the welterweight clash between Kell Brook and Errol Spence.
The London fighter revealed that he broke his jaw and was going to undergo an operation for the injury, but he did not specify the amount of time needed for his recovery.
Chudinov had lost only once, and started better with big punches flying from all angles until he clashed heads, cutting Groves over his left eye. Groves rallied from there, a right hook starting a barrage of huge shots in the sixth round which forced referee Steve Gray to stop the dazed Russian from continuing.
"It turns out I only went and broke my jaw in the 3rd round on Saturday, that or broke it from over smiling since," Groves stated.
Chudinov's second straight loss, after a points loss to titleholder Felix Sturm last year, dropped his record to 14-2.
Groves improved his record to 26-3 (19 KOs). Groves had lost his three previous world titles fights to Carl Froch, twice, and Badou Jack. Groves took on new trainer Shane McGuigan and won four straight to get back into title contention.
He would like to have a unification bout in the near future, and a showdown with domestic rival, IBF champion James DeGale, would be a hot ticket in the UK. Groves handed DeGale, an Olympic gold medal winner, his first and only loss by a close points decision in 2011.
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