George Groves has warned Badou Jack he will be making a mistake if the Swedish-born boxer relies on him tiring during their WBC super middleweight title fight.
Groves fights Jack at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 12, on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's welterweight fight with Andre Berto, amid ongoing concerns about his stamina.
The super middleweight's endurance his been a concern on more than one occasion, not least during his two defeats by Carl Froch, but he has spent the past eight weeks training in the mountains at altitude at Big Bear, California, and is using criticism of his conditioning as motivation ahead of his meeting with Jack.
"I can use it to my advantage," said Groves. "You're never going to be as fresh in the first round as you are in the last. But at the same time, I always finish strong. I've been 12 rounds before in high-intensity fights, fights which I've won, in which I haven't faltered.
"It's nice that a few people in the media, usually with an agenda, will say something, and then it catches fire and everyone jumps on it.
"Anyone who wants to base a gameplan around me, around stamina, hoping that I'm gonna fade and get tired. I'd never do that for any fight, because one day that guy ain't gonna get tired, and I certainly ain't gonna get tired.
"I'm gonna be full-steam ahead, from the first second to the last, and I'm really looking forward to it."
Groves' trainer, Paddy Fitzpatrick, has also been criticised. Some believe that Groves' disappointing performances in wins over Christopher Rebrasse and Denis Douglin since losing to Froch show he has declined since he stopped working with Adam Booth and joined Fitzpatrick, but the 27-year-old Londoner believes that his faith in the Irishman is about to be vindicated.
"This might be the fight when people actually pay real attention to the good work we've put in," he said.
"Myself and Paddy have come under criticism since we've been working together. But the first fight we had together [the first fight with Froch], we was only working together for 10 weeks, and I dropped the champion of the world, and had Matchroom and the referee take it away from me.
"Against Christopher Rebrasse, he'd never been stopped, because I didn't stop him I come under criticism. I threw 1,000 shots in that fight and then I got criticised for having no stamina. I won every round.
"And then I fight Denis Douglin, I knocked him out, had a bit of a slow start but knocked him out. It's easy to criticise because we haven't won a world title yet, and it'll probably be easy to praise us once we do.
"We know we've done good work, we know we've improved, we know that in the gym we're seeing what we need to see.
"As long as I go out and perform as I intend to, on fight night, I'm sure Paddy, and myself, will get a little bit more respect. But we don't really fight for that any more.
"Winning over the hearts and minds as fight fans is a difficult task, you're only as good as your last interview these days. I'm not too fussed about the general perception. As long as we're winning, which we are, we're gonna go out and perform and become world champion."
Source: PA
