Chris Eubank’s expected a coming out party and instead received a boxing lesson from George Groves, who worked diligently behind a disruptive left jab to score a clear unanimous decision (117-112, 116-112, 115-11) at the Manchester Arena.
It was clear early on that Eubank didn’t come into this fight with a Plan B. He fully expected his athleticism would allow him to get inside and use his explosive power. Instead, he found himself stuck on the outside and eating jabs. When he attempted to barrel through, Groves would tie him up and force a reset at ring center. This essentially was the pattern of the entire fight.
As the fight wore on, Eubank’s attempts to get inside got more and more reckless. We got errant fouls from both, but Eubank would get the worst of the legal and illegal actions. He received a bad cut over his right eye from a clash of heads. He was lucky in the middle rounds when the referee missed a flash knockdown.
Eubank found his best success when he took risks and worked from mid-range. Groves would give ground to the ropes and Eubank had space to pound the body and exchange upstairs. Eubank particularly did this well in the championship rounds where Groves’s stamina began to wane.
We would find out later that Groves suffered a dislocated left shoulder early in the 12th, robbing him of the left jab that kept Eubank’s contained. The challenger took full advantage and dominated the stanza, but Groves showed durability and slickness by rolling with of Eubank’s power shots.
At press time, the severity of Groves’s injury is unknown. All are hopeful it won’t be an extended delay as Groves is set to the meet the winner of Callum Smith and Jurgen Brahmer (February 24) in the World Boxing Super Series Finals. Usually, recovery time can range anywhere from six weeks to three months.
In the meantime, Chris Eubank has to take a long hard look in the mirror. It’s time to stop believing his own hype and get with a new trainer. Naseem Hamed was commentating and absolutely ripped him, going as far to say Eubank showed he’s not a world-class fighter. It’s hard to argue with that considering Eubank was rendered clueless by Groves’s jab and look like an amateur throwing wild haymakers.
28 years old doesn’t exactly make Chris Eubank an old fighter. The question becomes whether it’s too old to unlearn the bad habits he’s internalized.
When you can’t deal with the jab. #boxing #AliTrophy #GrovesEubank pic.twitter.com/4Mh9TK9KrZ
— Ismael AbduSalaam (@Ismael_BBM_NYK) February 17, 2018
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 
I couldnt believe Groves was the underdog coming into this fight, I never thought Eubank had a proper boxing IQ to deal elite world level fighters, and his corner is like a pantomime… My only thought was, has Groves chin disappeared??? And would he lose concentration??? Even then I think Eubanks power is overrated… I thought Duke Mckenzie summed it up well, it showed the difference between the WBA Championship level and the IBO…
Spot on analysis, Sam. I was flabbergasted in the post-fight when he just casually stated he can go just right into another title shot against Caleb Truax. But I could see a DeGale fight being made.
Yeah Im not sure the reward for losing a world title shot (and not exactly a gallant effort) should be….. a shot at another champion in Traux, prolly because he classes him as a weak champ haha the audacity is astounding…
The thing is I believe ‘Team Eubank’ seem to refuse to sign any conventional multi fight promotional or TV deals with anyone, or if they do negotiate, they want stupid splits… I think they thought the IBO was leverage (and basically made casual or non boxing fans believe he was THE champ via social media), somehow they managed a PPV terrestrial TV thing (i felt it was so insulting to boxing fans) but now even that has prolly gone with the belt… So Im not sure if they can eat humble pie and sign some deals like a normal team (and act like a normal team) and then have Jr do a proper apprenticeship like Nigel Benn basically did with his son Connor…
I agree DeGale could be a good fight, I dont think DeGale has much left in him (if any), I think he has alot of miles on the clock, so Im not sure DeGale would go for it unless the money was really generous, maybe Matchroom can cook up some sort of ‘Heated Domestic Dust Up’ and sell aload of tickets, other than that I hope DeGale can get a rematch, win, cash out with a big fight and retire with all his faculties…
Did you see Prince Naseem tearing into Jr and Groves post fight??? I dont think he will be getting another gig!!! haha
Sorry I forgot you did see Naz’s analysis, he pulled no punches… I laughed when shouted out his wife haha
Naz still sees red when the Eubank name is mentioned. lol Can you imagine if Eubank had went through with that GGG fight? Career ender right there.
I was waiting for Naz to state on camera that he was the won that invented the jumping over the rope in the ring walk, not Sr haha
*one