Boxing: Kenny won’t fight Groves in Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s Kenny Anderson’s hopes of challenging George Groves for the British super-middleweight title in the Capital have been dashed after top promoter Frank Warren won the purse bids to stage the fight in London on March 3.

Anderson’s promotional group Matchroom Promotions were keen to put the fight on before Celtic champion Anderson’s hometown fans but the group’s boss Eddie Hearn confirmed today: “We submitted a highly competitive purse bid to try to put Kenny’s challenge on in Edinburgh but we were working under budget constraints.

“To top the winning bid would have taken us into territory where we stood the risk of losing an estimated £25,000 overall by staging the fight in Edinburgh, so we’re actually happy that Anderson will get a better payday out of the fight when it goes ahead in London.”

“Of course, Kenny will be disappointed about not being able to challenge Groves in his hometown. However, we are confident that, because he has had so much more time to prepare for this fight with Groves than he did back when they fought for the Commonwealth title back in November 2010 [where an unlucky Anderson lost on points], Kenny can become the new British super-middleweight champion.”