Saint George wins in fourth-round
Books place in WBSS semi-final
Fight with Eubank Jr rumoured for January in London
George Groves has had to endure a lot during his nine-year professional career, from back-to-back losses at the hands of bitter rival Carl Froch – one suspect stoppage, one utterly conclusive – to a trio of heartbreaks when challenging for world titles, but the world WBA super-middleweight champion showed his class on October 14 to a raucous Wembley Arena crowd when he runied the record of unbeaten Jamie Cox with a fourth-round stoppage as impressive as any one of his 26 victories.
The World Boxing Super Series No.1 seed booked his spot in the semi-finals with a brutal body blow that the 31-year-old southpaw from Swindon could not recover from in time to beat the referee's count.
The next stage against the brash Brighton boxer will likely take place in January or February in London which will certainly draw big viewerships and almost definitely be an early contender for fight of the year.
Cox, who won Commonwealth gold in 2006 and has had his problems away from the ring in a stop-start career, burst into action with a flurry of headshots that had Groves sucking the air with his back to the ropes. Cox shipped a few near the bell, but was still buzzing.
A thumping Cox left hook steadied the champion at the start of the third and, as he grinned to his corner over Groves’s shoulder, he seemed primed for the fight of his life. The battle-hardened Londoner kept his shape, though, and edged the round.
In what was to be the final round, Groves buried a wicked counter right deep into Cox’s unprotected ribs over the top of a wild oncoming right hand and the challenger could not beat the count at one minute and 42 seconds of the fourth round.