DeGale is in the final stages of preparation for his first UK fight in three years and will defend his IBF super-middleweight title against Caleb Truax on Saturday.

He is hoping a win will set him up for a unification fight with David Benavidez before a rematch with Groves at the end of 2018, seven years after their first meeting ended in a close decision defeat for DeGale.

However, Groves will first have to make it past 26-1 fighter Eubank Jr on February 17, an all-British WBA title fight that also represents the semi-final of the World Boxing Super Series.

But DeGale himself believes he wouldn’t even get in the door after Groves’ people appeared to block him from working on the night of the bout.

“I was getting paid to go up there and do a Q & A and I said ‘yes, of course I’ll do it’,” DeGale said.

“The next day they rang me asked me not to do it.

“At the time, I told my mum they wouldn’t let me go up there on their night and the next day they rang and said no.”

DeGale and Groves’ rivalry goes back to their amateur days at Dale Youth ABC, a west London club destroyed by the Grenfell Tower fire.

Groves beat him in the amateurs and then repeated the feat when they met in the professional ranks, taking a majority decision for the British super-middleweight title in 2011.

He still claims to be the best fighter in the division, but DeGale finds that assertion laughable and wants to prove that he is the No 1 super-middleweight in a rematch.

“I don’t care who wins but I’m hoping Groves come through it because I’d like to fight him again and the history goes back and I think it would be a fantastic fight,” DeGale added.

“How can he justify [saying he’s No1]? [His win over me] don’t matter. That was six years ago!”