In the main event of the evening in Manchester George Groves (28-3, 20 KOs) got a unanimous decision win over Chris Eubank Jr. (26-2, 20 KOs) in the first semi-final of the World Boxing Super Series, and defended his WBA title in the super middleweights. The judges scores were 117-112, 116-112, 115-113. Now on June 2 in London Groves will meet with the winner of the pair Callum Smith - Juergen Braehmer, who will meet on February 24 in Germany.
Before the battle, Eubank Jr. was the slight favorite of this meeting.
After respectful, but intense first round opponents went forward pretty messy in the second round and exchanged some heavy blows in the third. In one episode Eubank got a cut near the right eye after a clash of heads, which bleed noticeably until the end of the fight and clearly bothered Chris.
Later Eubank went ahead, or jumped with the wild left hook, and Groves, surpassing him in size, was trying to land his heavy right hand. Eubank's blows lacked strength and accuracy, and Groves's actions lacked sharpness and pressure, but in general George looked a little more impressive.
Opponents also presented spectators with a wild slugfest in the final, twelfth round, from which blood sprays flew into the cameras near the ring. In this round Groves obviously dislocated his left shoulder.
After the battle Groves paid tribute to the opponent and said that in the first round he managed to knock Eubank down, but the referee did not open the count. Eubank after the fight expressed his hope for new title fights or for a rematch, and also admitted that the cut at the beginning of the fight blurred his vision. Eubank also noted that the meeting was rather close and he did enough to win.
