Chris Eubank JR has failed to acknowledge that he was soundly beaten by George Groves in their World Super Series semi-final in Manchester.
All three judges unanimously gave the verdict to the WBA super-middleweight champion, who retains his belt with a 117-12, 116-112, 115-113 victory.
Eubank Jr was hampered by a cut to his right eye from a clash of heads in the third round and Groves was furious he was not ruled to have knocked down the Brighton boxer in the tenth when his glove touched the canvas.
Eubank Jr fought like a lion throughout but Groves’ immense experience and heavier frame were telling factors and he survived a last round rally after dislocating his left shoulder to win the fight before skipping his press conference to go to have it put back in place in a nearby hospital.
Defeat was the second blot on Eubank Jr’s career following a loss to reigning WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders but the vanquished 28-year-old was not accepting defeat.
He seemed to be in denial when he said: ‘George head butted me a lot in that fight. I don’t know how he didn’t get points taken away from him. But this is one-on-one combat, you know. You do what you have to do and that’s what he did.
‘I couldn’t see out of my right eye for pretty much most of the fight and that affected my style. I had to resort to loading up because every time he moved to my right I couldn’t see him so I would just throw big punches.
‘Tactics is a big thing and tactically he did the right thing. He negated some of my work early on but I felt in the later rounds I was hitting him with a lot of shots and hurting him.
‘It was a great fight. I felt I did enough in the later rounds to nick it but George had a great game plan. He was on form and he stuck to it in the end. All credit to him.’
Eubank Jr admitted Groves enjoyed a physical advantage in the fight and conceded he may not have given his opponent enough respect.
He added: ‘I know George is a solid fighter. You can’t become world champion without being good. Did I underestimate him? A little bit, maybe. Did size come into it? Yes.
‘I felt the size difference. I’m not a natural super-middleweight but he did what he had to do. I felt I was getting a lot of success inside but he caught me with a few jabs here and there and I guess that was enough to win some of the rounds.’
