On his regular trips to his old amateur club, Dale Youth ABC, George Groves would see an enthusiastic and hard-hitting prospect, marking him out as one to watch.
As young Lucas Roehrig developed and improved, the fork in the road drew nearer.
Roehrig was picking up experience, boxing at a good level in the amateurs and facing decisions about his future.
If he were to turn professional, who would he sign with and who would train him?
He knew and respected Groves, a former world super middleweight titleholder. Groves had liked the idea of managing fighters but did not want to spread himself too thin with his other commitments, including spending time with his young family and taking on a steady flow of media work.
It was down to Dale Youth coach Danny Rowe to “sort of knock their heads together.
“I really want to manage him, but can I commit to the training?” Groves asked Rowe.
“Mate, you ain’t gonna let no one else train him. What are you talking about?” Rowe replied. “All these other trainers … You’re gonna be the one to train him.”
Rowe then would say to Roehrig: “George, he’s been there, done it. There’s no one else out there. You two need to get together and make it happen.”
And so the partnership was sealed, and Groves, trainer and manager of Roehrig, the now 1-0 (1 KO) cruiserweight prospect, began the next phase of his post-fighting life.
The former belt holder admits he had taken some persuasion. Groves has always done things his way, but now he has a responsibility to be there for someone else.
Their first outing saw Roehig open his pro account with a three-round victory over 21-9 Joel McIntryre.
“This is a huge level of investment because I’m gonna train and manage Lucas, which we’ve been doing now for pushing a year, really,” said Groves. “He made his debut in December, but we’ve been working behind the scenes for a long, long time, and I’m loving it. I’m just loving it. There was always gonna be that moment for every ex-fighter who thinks about becoming a trainer and when’s the right time and when’s not, and does it marry up with your other commitments, with your personal life? But, fortunately for me, I have an existing relationship with a very special talent, which is Lucas, so even if it feels like it came a little bit earlier than I had imagined or planned to, this was definitely the right time because it’s working with the right guy.”
Groves, who boxed the likes of James DeGale, Badou Jack, Carl Froch and Callum Smith, claimed his title at the fourth attempt. He never left boxing. He has been a pundit on boxing broadcasts and has his own podcast. But this relationship sees him return to the daily grind of gyms, runs, stepping through the ropes with pads instead of gloves, and working amid the contagious smell of sweat and leather. The shadows and reminders of his successful past are everywhere.
“It’s fun every day in the gym with him. I love it,” Groves said. “I’m reminiscing about stuff that I’ve done. … [Lucas] made his debut on a small hall show, this is a version of pro boxing – the ones you don’t see on the TV. His next one now is on Sky Sports [on Saturday night]. It’ll probably be on early on the stream, but he’s fighting at the OVO Arena. He’s gonna try and try and taste it all, and get behind him, get on this journey, because he’s a great talent.”
Groves is no stranger to London’s OVO Arena, also known as Wembley Arena, where Roehrig will take on Serbia’s Miloslav Savic, who is 9-8-1 (7 KOs). At Wembley, Groves fought and beat, in no order, Christopher Rebrasse, Jamie Cox and Paul Smith. It was also there where he defeated Eduard Gutknecht, who collapsed in his dressing room post-fight and had to have an operation to relieve swelling on his brain afterwards. Groves has seen a lot. He saw too much that week.
And while Groves has sometimes soured on the business of boxing and has antipathy to the snakes and ladders of how the political side of the sport is played, Roehrig serves as a reminder of the sport at its purest.
“I’ve seen and got to know him,” said Groves. “The little things that you don’t get to know straight away, like what’s he like when I take him up the hills on a Sunday morning? Whether he wins or whether he doesn’t, I can see on his face he’s desperate to win and that takes me back again, reminds me of myself. The way that he’ll hang on your word – not just me, but anyone who he feels can add value to him. He’s invested heavily in that way and he’s a tremendous athlete – but still, I think about it, very raw. There’s so much more to experience, let alone to improve upon.”
Roehrig’s reputation is already growing, and it helps having Groves not just along for the ride but as a spokesman and advocate. While the raw materials might be in place, and he might be well-respected on the amateur circuit, the youngster does not have the amateur pedigree that has networks and promoters falling over themselves to sign him.
“He boxed at a high level as an amateur, but he didn’t have a 10-year amateur career, he didn’t travel the world extensively going to the World Championships, European Championships. … He had a few multi-nations [bouts], he got to the final of an ABA Championship, but the fact that he’s doing the stuff he’s doing already with that just shows me that his potential is incredible,” said Groves.
It was also enough to impress the team of IBF cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opetaia, who has already summoned him for sparring. In the current climate, that sort of character reference carries plenty of clout.
“Opetaia’s team asked him to come out, so we flew out to Saudi so he can get some rounds in with a world champion, and the fact he’s willing to invest in himself in every way, to live and breathe it every second and win at all costs, it reminds me a lot of myself,” said Groves. “A lot of things that I appreciate in a fighter, he’s shown already. He’s well worth the investment.”
But the relationship was not born of Groves simply coveting the young prospect. It was two-way, with Roehrig seeing what Groves had done and, importantly, how he had done it. Groves is seen as his own man in British boxing, almost anti-establishment. He trod his own path whenever he could.
While the marriage between trainer/manager and fighter seemed inevitable, Roehrig says it was nevertheless organic.
“It more so happened quite naturally, where he saw I was ready to transition from the amateurs to the pros, and we sat down, we had a meeting and we discussed what’s the best way to make this step, and there was a couple other options – but for me, it was a no-brainer,” said Roehrig. “Someone like George, who I always looked up to and always respected and knew I could trust, he was the perfect person to guide me in my pro career, and it just happened quite naturally. It’s definitely the right choice.”
The priority for Roehrig is activity. He wants to box every two months or so, and he wants his learning and improvement curve to be sharp. Seven wins without defeat is the goal by the end of 2025.
But more than that, as Groves did, he wants to carve his own path. Groves was a maverick who resisted conformity, and as Roehrig begins his journey, there is a sense that the fierce independence Groves boasted exists within his upstart. That is another quality the student admires in his teacher.
“Definitely. He was a trailblazer, and how he done it – even at the top of the sport, managing himself – he showed that he wasn’t just an athlete. He had that mental and intellectual side and that business mind, as well, to be able to promote himself,” said Roehrig. “So, for me, it’s amazing to have someone with the mind and the brains as George has to be managing me and to be helping me find my personality and find my way in the sport.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
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