• George Groves v Christopher Rebrasse

World champion? It's inevitable, says Groves

George Groves was taken all the way by Christopher Rebrasse at Wembley Arena © Getty Images

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All around George Groves there were reminders of the most sickening moment of his boxing career, but he did not let it distract him from exorcising the ghosts of his second defeat to Carl Froch.

Froch, who four months previously had scrambled Groves' senses with an eighth-round knockout, was ringside, as was promoter Eddie Hearn. On his way into Wembley Arena, Groves could not have failed to notice Wembley Stadium, where 80,000 watched him flattened by Froch in May.

But Groves showed no nerves or psychological damage from the savage manner of his defeat to Froch for his IBF and WBA world super-middleweight titles as he comprehensively out-pointed Frenchman Christopher Rebrasse.

Groves allowed himself to be hit more later in the fight as fatigue set in and his own punches did not land as cleanly, but he deserved the handsome victory from the judges' scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 118-110.

Victory earned Groves, 26, the European super-middleweight title as well as a shot at American Anthony Dirrell, who holds the WBC version of the world title. After two stoppage defeats to Froch, Groves' career would have been in freefall had he lost again but it was pretty clear from the opening rounds that the Londoner had the superior power.

George Groves will have been constantly reminded about his May defeat to Carl Froch © Getty Images

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The only concern was whether he would punch himself out against his taller opponent who absorbed a lot of punishment, but Groves was satisfied with the performance.

"He didn't make it easy, but I felt in complete control," said Groves. "He had a pestering jab so it was about establishing myself from the start and building momentum, not giving him any success.

"To be honest I did feel tired at the end of the sixth. We had a bit of an up and down training camp, but there was no way I was going to let this fight slip. I was throwing a lot of punches.

"This is the road to recovery. You know you need to be mentally tough as a fighter and I knew this was exactly what I needed.

"What it turned into was 12 physical rounds and that showed my conditioning was good. I've got to be honest, you never know how you are going to recover to losing.

"I will strive on now and win this world title. I feel it's inevitable I will become world champion. Hopefully I will fight for the WBC world title in December and I feel good to go, the sooner the better for me."

Groves' trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick revealed the anxieties before facing Rebrasse.

"It would be hard for any individual who has dominated both fights [against Froch], to have it taken away from you controversially the first time and then knocked out in the second one," he said.

"We had a lot to deal with emotionally."

Unbeaten Dirrell, 29, has the option of making a voluntary defence before facing mandatory challenger Groves and if he does the Briton will have to wait until later next year for his shot. Groves must now rely on promoter Kalle Sauerland to strike a deal with cancer survivor Dirrell, who only won the title from Sakio Bika in August and has spoken about fighting Froch next.

"It's a case now of lobbying the WBC to make our position strong and we will be talking to the Dirrell camp," said Sauerland.

"It's business and we have the money and infrastructure over here to do it. If we have to pull out the cheque book, we will."

Froch, 37, afterwards dismissed the notion of fighting Groves for a third time but Groves is keen for the chance of revenge.

"I said to Carl afterwards I'm happy to box anyone, including Carl," said Groves, who floored Froch in their first fight before being controversially stopped in the ninth round.

"He had a perplexed look on his face he began ranting and raving.

"It's a fight I would love to have. I want to win the WBC belt first and if he wants to box on, it's the biggest fight out there for him and he clearly doesn't like me."

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