The gauntlet has been laid down, the challenge has officially been made. George Groves has offered long-time rival James DeGale £50,000 to fight him on the undercard of David Haye's WBA world heavyweight title defence against John Ruiz at Manchester’s M.E.N Arena on 3 April.

The fight would give Olympic gold medallist DeGale the chance to avenge the defeat he suffered to Groves in the amateurs when both fighters boxed at the same Dale Youth gym in West London. Following the defeat in the 2006 ABA's, which Groves went on to win, DeGale refused to speak or train with Groves and the rivalry between the pair has continued to simmer ever since.

Groves, 21, explained to the Sun newspaper’s Pat Sheenan: "After I beat DeGale he would not train with the seniors and spent his time with the juniors instead. We were never that close before we fought and our relationship now is best described as frosty. Good things come to those who wait and I'm sure I'll prove that win was no fluke."

DeGale has previously dismissed talk of a fight saying, “George has lived in my shadow for half his life so obviously he’s going to be bitter and upset. He wouldn’t last five rounds with me. Let him talk the fight up but I will knock him out. I don’t like him and everyone knows that. I played with him in the amateurs and I’d take him now.”

The war of words between the super-middleweight prospects has been ongoing over the past 12 months, since they both turned professional, with Groves saying:

“It doesn’t matter where I go in the country, people come up to me and say ‘when are you going to shut James DeGale’s mouth? We don’t see each other now so we don’t need to get on, but the things that have been said are true – I will knock him out.”

But DeGale responded, saying, “Who? Oh, that little ugly kid? No one really knows about him, no one cares about him.”

However, the reality is there's no doubt the fight would generate huge interest from the boxing public, particularly after the impressive start Groves has made to his pro career with numerous pundits and insiders tipping him as the country's brightest prospect.

Boxing bill's in this country don't come any bigger than a heavyweight world title fight involving a British heavyweight world champion. A packed M.E.N arena would be a wonderful stage to settle the fierce rivalry between the two super-middleweights.

All that remains now is to wait for James DeGale's response...