“It was not a night for the squeamish. At the end of 12 rounds, the shirt of referee Michael Alexander, the referee, was soaked pink by the blood of Eubank, while a bone poked up from Groves’s dislocated shoulder . . .
Appreciate everyone that came out to support last night #NEXTGENpic.twitter.com/logHhGPD57
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) February 18, 2018
“It had been one of the finest nights of Groves’s career, but he ended it in A & E. He said yesterday that he had dislocated his shoulder twice. It had initially popped back into its socket only for it to dislocate again when he tried to throw a jab. For the moment, he remains positive of his chances of making the final . . .
“The timescale is desperately tight for a boxer with the kind of injury Groves suffered. Unless he is able to be back in full training by April, he has no realistic chance of making it. Kalle Sauerland, the promoter behind WBSS, suggested that a short delay was possible.”
RON LEWIS, The Times
“Marcus McDonnell’s 115-113 score was closer to that of The Guardian’s view, because enough of the late and late rounds were close. As for the untidy finish to an untidy, tense contest, Groves said he never doubted he could survive with only one good arm for two minutes. “I thought I was going to ice him in the 12th. I tried to lift my left arm, 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.””
KEVIN MITCHELL, The Guardian
“(Groves) said: “He’s going to have a tough phase now, because he dreamt about all these things he was going to have. Dreaming about winning a big fight before you’ve won it, I’m also guilty of.
“But there was a documentary and he was looking around houses he can’t afford. He had to win the tournament to afford them.
“He spent the whole week trying to develop his new clothing range. People buy your T-shirt because you’re winning, they don’t care if it’s a Fruit of the Loom T-shirt or if it has come straight out of the Burberry warehouse. They just want your logo on their shirt.
“He’s had so many people jump on his bandwagon of late. But people will quickly forget about you, let’s see how he can cope with that. Even the most resilient of people struggle with it.
“Jr is better off going to the other side of the world, away from his dad, to have a fresh start. He doesn’t have a wife and kids, so maybe it could work for him.”
Groves interview in The Sun
“Groves . . . won over a legion of fans in the Manchester Arena after being under-valued for so long. He looked every inch the best super-middleweight in the world – and not only because he was significantly the larger man . . . . Eubank did treat us to a helluva fight at the end but only in mythology does David slay Goliath.”
JEFF POWELL, Daily Mail
A huge thank you to all the boxing fans who had the Manchester arena rocking last night. I had a great time! 😁
Huge thank you to @McGuigans_Gym and the rest of my fantastic team.
A medical update on the shoulder coming soon! pic.twitter.com/6BjglEVDFc— George Groves (@StGeorgeGroves) February 18, 2018
“George Groves has warned the organisers of the Ali Trophy they cannot have the final without him.
“Who wants to watch the WBSS final without me in it? If the dates need to be changed slightly, then I’m sure they will do that. We’ll get the medical report and then see. If I was them, I wouldn’t want to replace me.”
DAVID ANDERSON, Daily Mirror
“In a fitness test, he would beat me, but on fight night, that means nothing. I am the more efficient, bigger and better. I old manned him out of it. This won’t match the James DeGale win for satisfaction, I’m never going to top the Fedor Chudinov feeling of utter relief and joy at winning the world title. The truth is, I wasn’t that invested in this fight. I just wanted the victory.”
Groves interview in THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
READ MORE:
James DeGale, Tony Bellew, Amir Khan and others react to Groves’ win
George Groves gives shoulder injury update