Groves beats Eubank Jr by unanimous points decision

The all British dust-up was staged at the Manchester Arena live on ITV Box office, with Groves WBA super-middleweight title and Brighton boxer Eubank's IBO title on the line.

After the fight, Eubank Jr told ITV Box Office he believes his pressure and come forward attacks could have seen him come away with the decision in a close fight.

He said: "I thought it was close, I thought I did enough in the late rounds to win the fight. All credit to George Groves, it is all part of boxing. It was a good enough fight to have a rematch.

"I thought I pressured him the entire fight, I was landing shots. Groves has the heart of a true champion and did what he had to do. I was catching him with a lot of shots and he didn't give up, hopefully we can get a rematch.”

Groves took control of the fight early and landed well-timed jabs to keep Eubank Jr at bay, however neither man landed anything significant until the third round when both fighters landed big shots with the fight exploding into the corner of the ring.

Eubank Jr, who suffered a nasty cut above his right eye early on, landed his best sequence of shots in the fourth round as he caught Groves with a beautiful right uppercut followed by a left hook. He forced Groves on to the back-foot as he applied pressure, however Groves looked relaxed going back.

The second half of the fight opened with Groves cynically pushing Eubank Jr through the ropes and and he goaded Eubank Jr to charge forward.

Groves continued to look comfortable on the back-foot and kept Eubank Jr at range and the Brighton boxer's frustration began to show as he missed with lead right hands.

Eubank Jr continued to put Groves into good positions, however the Hammersmith man used all of his experience to tie his man up. He did not allow Eubank Jr to find any success on the inside as he struggled to find home to any of his signature uppercuts.

The final stages of the fight became desperate times for 28-year-old Eubank Jr as he continued to stalk his British rival, however Groves remained composed to break up Eubank Jr's rhythm as the former IBO champion seemed to wait too long.

Eubank Jr piled on the pressure in the final round and forced Groves to back up. He landed a chopping right hand that seemed to affect Groves, however the WBA champion rode the pressure and saw the fight out.

Groves was declared the winner by unanimous decision: 117-112 116-112 115-113 winning the IBO super-middleweight championship and defending his WBA world title for the second time.

Speaking to ITV Box Office after the fight Groves said: I'm very, very happy with the performance.

"It was about who wanted it most. Of course it was. He had success because I did something wrong.

"It's been a long time since I won in front of a big crowd. Obviously, against Carl Froch I didn't win. It's nice to get that justification. So, away we go. Next."