The Saint shows his class, outboxes Eubank Jr.

It might not have been the barnburner that many expected, but WBA super middleweight champion George Groves boxed his way to a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision over Chris Eubank Jr. at the Manchester Arena in London, England, Saturday night.

Scores were 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Maxboxing had Groves winning the fight by a 116-112 tally. Groves will now fight the winner of next weekends bout between Calluim Smith and Jurgen Braehmer in the World Boxing Super Series final in May.

Groves (28-3, 20 KOs) showed his variety of skills immediately, outboxing Eubank (26-2, 20 KOs) intelligently from the outside and tying him up whenever necessary.

Eubank followed, but seemed unsure how to attack. His strategy, if you call it that, was reminiscent of the only other loss in his professional career in 2014 to Billy Joe Saunders. He seemed to think that all he had to do was land a clean punch and Groves would crumble.

Groves established two things in the early going. One he would jab at every opportunity, and two, he would keep the fight in the center of the ring. In most rounds, he circled slowly to his right, stabbed Eubank with his left and followed with a right.

After three rounds Eubank was bleeding from a cut alongside his right eye. He finally connected with a big left hand in round four, but Groves absorbed it and returned to the center of the ring. Eubank leaped in with another left hook that landed. Groves connected with a chopping right and inside uppercut.

Eubank, with blood streaming down the right side of his face, went for the gusto in round six. Groves,29, easily avoided his punches and made him pay. Eubank,28, tried to rough Groves up on the inside, but the defending champion smothered most of his blows.