George Groves sets his sights while Chris Eubank Jr runs out of options

George Groves, his left shoulder still throbbing, cast a quick gaze into the immediate future and smiled. He had emerged wounded but victorious after 12 ragged rounds with Chris Eubank on Saturday and, just shy of his 30th birthday, he knows he is the best 12-stone fighter in boxing, with the prospect of proving it in the final of the World Boxing Super Series, probably at the O₂ Arena in London on 2 June.

To do so, he will need a medical clearance on the shoulder, which popped out and back in again in the 12th round, and he will know the findings of an MRI scan on Tuesday. Groves also awaits with interest the outcome of the second semi-final in the super-middleweight tournament between Liverpool’s Callum Smith and Jürgen Brähmer in Nüremberg on Saturday. He would welcome another domestic dust-up against Smith, whom he likes, after seeing off Eubank.

Most observers at ringside and further afield (including the loser’s father) agreed with the unanimous verdict of the three judges in his favour. Howard Foster’s card was 117-112, alongside that of Steve Gray, 116-112, while Marcus McDonnell’s 115-113 score was closer to that of the Guardian’s view, although there was an argument to be made for going the other way, because enough of the middle and late rounds were close.

Groves marches on. Eubank is stalled in hubris of his own making. Beforehand, he declared solemnly, “If I lose, where do I go? Everything that I’ve worked for will be gone.”

Groves, who has no animosity towards Eubank, reckons he should go to the US to rebuild his career, away from the suffocating influence of Chris Eubank Sr. It is an intriguing thought.

As for the dramatic finish to an untidy, tense contest, Groves said he never doubted he could survive with only one good arm for the closing two minutes. “I thought I was going to ice him in the 12th because he jumped in. I tried to lift my left but it wouldn’t move. I hit him with a right uppercut and a right hook and they were both on the button. I could see the life drain out of him.

“I will have to go in to camp very soon. We will probably have a [contract] row later because, there is the WBC diamond belt, but I am the only legitimate world champion in this tournament. Who wants to watch the WBSS final without me in it? If the dates need to be changed slightly, I am sure they will. If I was them, I would not want to replace me. If they do, then that’s fine. I am not going to box unfit, obviously. There’s definitely room in the summer to readjust, if needs be.”

Kalle Sauerland, the tournament’s lead promoter, reckons there is wriggle room, but not a lot; if Groves can’t get to the line, Eubank, “is near the top of the queue” to step in, he says. That would hurt Groves more than his aching shoulder.