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George Groves insists he has no fear of dislocating his shoulder again when he faces Callum Smith on Sept. 28. The WBA world super middleweight champion faces his English rival in the World Boxing Super Series final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The date of the eight-man elimination tournament final was delayed from June to give Groves time to recover from surgery after dislocating his shoulder in the last round of a convincing win over Chris Eubank Jr in February. Groves (28-3, 20 KOs) says surgery and rehabilitation have ensured there will be no repeat of the injury against Smith (24-0, 17 KOs). "The shoulder is really good, but it has required a lot of work," Groves told ESPN. "In terms of previous injuries like the broken jaw I had in the [Fedor] Chudinov fight, someone fixes it and it's fine. But when I came out after surgery on the shoulder I had to do a lot of work for it to be just normal again before I could even punch with it. "I can see how much misinterpretation there is with a shoulder injury because it's all down to the rehab and doing it correctly. I've got a guy who takes me for three rehab sessions a week and does the adjustments. I'm finding out how to get as strong as I have been and about actual problems that may have caused my shoulder to pop in the first place. "It was about getting the little wins along the road to recovery. I couldn't lift my arm above my shoulder height, I couldn't dry myself properly with a towel. I've had little goals all along and getting the arm above the head was a big one. "But everything is on target and I am having a normal training camp. I'm getting the right responses from it. The punches have been coming thick and fast in training, I can let my hands go, there's no concern there. "The surgery I had ensured it will never happen again. The procedure was to extend the socket rather than mend the bone. The surgeon said if I did nothing I wouldn't be able to box again and be normal again. "There's lots of different ways to do it but the surgery I had has a 98 percent success rate of it not popping out again. Providing I'm not in a car crash I will be fine."  Groves, who has made two defences of his title, is confident his ring return will not be too soon after surgery. "It will be getting on for nearly eight months by the time of the fight," the 30-year-old said. "We were working towards a July date. With no minor setbacks it would have been a roll of the dice to fight in July. When we didn't have a date in July we didn't push it too hard in training and the end of September is a great date. Timewise it's perfect. "A lot of things with the shoulder cannot be tested until we were in full camp. I'm back sparring and doing full pad work now, and bringing down the weight." Holding a much-anticipated world title fight between two popular English boxers in Saudi Arabia has raised eyebrows and has been met by criticism. Due to the heat, Groves hopes the fight takes place indoors and admits he knows little about the venue, the King Abdullah Sports City. "I did a Google search on the venue and it brought up an athletics track which was a bit alarming, but after a closer look it says there's an indoor venue with air con where hopefully it will take place," Groves said. "Otherwise it will take away the skill element to it as it will be so hot, and will just be a battle of wills."
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