Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2018-02-17, some good exchanges between Chris Eubank Jr and George Groves but it is not enough to get three stars: it gets two.The former interim Wba Mw and current Ibo super-Mw champion Chris Eubank Jr entered this fight with a professional record of 26-1-0 (20 knockouts) and he is ranked as the No.1 super middleweight in the world. He suffered his only loss when he faced Billy Joe Saunders in 2014 (via split decision, Saunders vs Eubank Jr), since then he has won eight bouts beating Renold Quinlan (Eubank Jr vs Quinlan), Arthur Abraham (Eubank vs Abraham) and Avni Yildirim in 2017 (Chris Eubank Jr vs Avni Yildirim).
His opponent, the Wba super-Mw champion George Groves, has a boxing record of 27-3-0 (20 knockouts) and he entered as the No.3 in the same weight class. He lost to Badou Jack in 2015 (via split decision, Groves vs Jack), but then he has won six bouts beating Fedor Chudinov (Groves vs Chudinov) and Jamie Cox last year (George Groves vs Jamie Cox). Groves vs Eubank is the semifinal of the World Boxing Super Series super-Mw tournament and it is valid for the IBO and WBA Super World super middleweight titles. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Date: 2018-02-17
Where: Manchester Arena, Manchester, UK
Division: super middleweight (168 lbs, 76.2 kg)
Title: IBO and WBA Super World super middleweight titles
Eubank’s previous fight: Chris Eubank Jr vs Avni Yildirim
Groves’ previous fight: George Groves vs Jamie Cox
Eubank’s next fight: Chris Eubank Jr vs JJ McDonagh
Groves’ next fight: George Groves vs Callum Smith
Eubank vs Groves full fight video:
(Free embeddable video hosted on Ok.ru and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights)
Official video
Fight was pretty amateurish and I sometimes hoped Eubank could score a knockout since Groves fought frightened. I m not sure if Eubank is a boxer but this was poor boxing from him very much like Wilder. I just hope somebody like Golovking could fight him and knock his a*s out. Groves had chances to finish him but he was too scared to push forward the whole fight.
I am not sure about the decision, Eubanks was the aggressor and Groves constantly held after 2 or 3 punches. 115-113 sounds OK, but I feel the punchstats are not doing justice to Eubank’s aggression. I enjoyed the fight very much though. 3.5 stars for me ;)
Great fight.
I gave it to Groves for cleaner punching and negating most of Eubanks’ famous inside work. I agree the scores were too generous. Some rounds looked even, thanks to how cautiously they approached each other.
But in terms of who got his clock cleaned, I don’t think there’s much doubt. Groves overpowered him, out-thought him and mostly out-maneuvered him.
Eubank gave it a great shot, though, fighting through the blood and taking some nasty leather while fighting back until the end. He’s just not SMW material and should head back down to MW where he can still raise hell.
Needs a new trainer, too. He isn’t the world-beater his amusing father thinks.
Did you see Louis Theroux’s documentary on Eubanks senior? It’s hilarious, you”ll find it on Youtube easily :)
Thanks for the tip, Matt, I’m going to see it. :-)
Arjay Cee: Very good comment man
I think I understand what you mean. Groves didn’t have to do much to win the fight, he just needed to make him miss and make him pay. Groves had his back against the ropes very often but Jr just couldn’t land. So Jr was an “uneffective” aggressor. Still, compubox stats show only a thin difference between the two fighters but it validates the judges decision.
Yeah, there were so many windmill shots that missed in this fight, I agree.
Mattsnow: In my opinion, in the first part the aggressor was Groves but in the second part Eubanks was the one since he got no other choice because was loosing the fight. Anyhow, he was very disorganized and not able to handle a more experienced fighter that makes him to looks like an amateur. In terms of starts 3 is may be too much for this sort of street fight :-). Agree with your 115-113 which sounds good to me too.
Yeah but I think Groves looked much better in loosing to Froch. BTW, Naseem Hamed is so huge now I almost didn’t recognize him lol.
Groves the far better fighter. Eubanks simply isn’t a world class fighter.Scored it 118-110 Groves.
my comment got erased. cool. Eubank is a poor boxer. He was on the attack but somebody like Golovking would absolutely brutalize him if he would catch him clean. Groves wouldnt pursue the finish and fought scared. He could have finished totally amateurish style of Eubank. Hard to call it boxing.
Not erased mate when there are words like a ss or fekk etc they review it and so temporarily pull it. Then it comes back ten mins later if approved. Happened to me
Before. And i thought the same thing. Cheers
I had it 115-113 for Groves. Some rounds were difficult to score. However, I didn’t enjoy the fight that much and I agree that Eubank is not world class material. Even if he drops to MW I can’t see him beating Golovkin, Canelo or even Charlo, whom I consider a decent but not top fighter.
Jacobs and saunders neither until he makes serious adjustments. Hell, even lemieux or stevens.
Agreed. He already lost to Saunders. Well I think he could overpower Lemieux and Stevens given that he’s big and both are not very good boxers, just power punchers.
Close fight, I can live with 115-113 Groves, but 117-111 is a too great margin. Landing % must be very low for both fighters which made this a quite unaesthetic fight. I believe Eubank Jr biggest problem is Eubank Sr. This is the second time we see Jr losing at the highest level and just like vs Saunders, it seemed Sr didn’t have a proper strategy. Eubank needs a new cutman also, this cut really got out of hand and clearly took Jr off his game. I think he has a tremendous physique, an incredible stamina and if he was coached properly, he could be more than a top10er in the MW or SMW. The blueprint to beat him is now obvious: keep your distance, use the jab a lot and if he closes him, clinch. Groves seems also very beatable, but right now the SMW division is not what it was only a few years ago with the likes of Froch, Kessler, Ward, etc.. No doubt he will win the trophy.
The match was clearly won by Groves. The injury in the 12th round was the only problem and he was lucky to not get caught. I had 4-5 points for him.
Eubank has a great feature: he can absorb very well punches. On the other side he is really unaccurate and cahotic. I saw him missing too many punches by a mile. He is one level below Groves and i dont ser a future in boxing for him in supermiddleweight. Seeing the current mw division i fear there are at least 6 fighters of a superior level. He has really to work and he MUST keep a real trainer in the corner; the father is not suitable.
Yeah Eubank Jr’s technique is really poor, his punches are all over the place and look like windmill swings at times. It’s a shame given he has great physique.
Eubank Jnr makes Wilder look like a master boxer!! Nuff said?
Groves made it mesy and difficult and dirty and ugly and used his size and experience. But was mostly much closer than i read last night after watching it this morning. Eubank tried and tried and tried, and got some in even if groves got the cleaner and more accurate ones in …. you have to reward the guy being aggressive and always coming forward. Eubank needs a real
Boxer’s jab and more movement and footwork and learn to fight comfortably on the outside and at distance as a plan b using feints and counters and …. the jab. This requires a major overhaul of training system tho, what use is ronnie davies if all he does is babysit and stare at sparring sessions? He should be hands on and correct eubank’s shortcomings and flaws. Weird arrangement from the ever eccentric eubank sr for his son to be self taught and have a trainer as a nanny and pads holder only. Also, those bums off the street they get as sparring partners are useless.
I must have seen a different match. :)
Great fight…Groves was looking like a killer technician with a plan and Junior was clueless and seriously outclassed…back to MW for him. Bigger and better things for George.
Arrogance didn’t prevaile this time. It was a close fight but Chris hasn’t a chance to develop his fighting plan since George’s skills were well above the ones that he usually found on his previous rivals, Therefore he got quite frustrated behaving like an amateur when he was trying to caught George with a knock out punch. This fight slow on the first phase was much active in the second one but, for my taste, quite disorganized, a lot of grabbing and and a sort of street fight in spite of having two boxers with very reasonable boxing skills. It was difficult to score but George, undoubtedly, was the the winner. I guess he dislocated the shoulder of his left arm during the last round but was brave to finish.
Actually i expect that people commenting in this site are more respectful. Eubanks jr is there at his own risk qnd in boxing the risks are huge. I have been critic against his performance in my other post but i dont hope for him and nobody else to get a hard beating. Btw with such a chin, give him a real trainer and 1 year before calling him out.
As you mention Golovkin: i really like ggg, but age is knocking at the door. Wonder why sudfendly MW is getting so crowded? Were ggg just 5 years younger we would see the charlos on strict diet in welterweight. I hope he can make a succesfull trilogy with canelo, monetize well and carefully assess afterwards an eventual defense or wisely retire.
Clutch Mr Groves! Hardly an epic fight but George was farvto much for a look a like fighter