WBA super middleweight champion George Groves decisioned IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. over 12 lopsided rounds?
Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom, WBA super middleweight champion George Groves (28-3, 20 KOs), from Hammersmith, London, decisioned IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. (26-2, 20 KOs), from Brighton, Sussex, after 12 lopsided rounds in the World Boxing Super Series semifinal.
The final scores were 117-112, 116-112, and 115-113.
Fighting out of the blue corner in black trunks with red trim, Groves controlled the pace throughout the fight. After a touch and go first round he dominated the action, relying on his experience and savvy to pocket rounds and pile up points. He also drew first blood in the third round, which bothered his opponent throughout.
Eubank, fighting out of the red corner in black trunks, entered the fight as a live underdog, a generous assessment in retrospect. He is athletic and ambitious, but his wide looping punches, lack of power, and inability to think on his feet hampered him all night long. As Groves tired Eubank finally let his hands go and came into his own in the ninth. But Groves was too far ahead. He would not be denied.
Groves is not the best of the best and is likely past his prime. But he?s an old-school fighter who always delivers, whether the chips are up or down. He knows how to fight. He also knows how to win when it counts.
After the fight, with his face bruised and arm in a sling from a possible dislocated shoulder, Groves summed up his performance.
?Terrific fight for the fans,? he said. ?Chris Eubank didn?t bring the pressure he said he would. I dropped him at least once but it didn?t count. Very, very happy with the performance. The shoulder is sore, but I wasn?t going to let anything stop me. The jab was landing correctly all night, when he had success it was because I did something wrong. I?d already hurt him before the cut. Credit to him for getting through the rounds because I didn?t think he would.?
That Eubank did. But to quote George Groves a final time, ?The better man won tonight.?
