By Ben James: Firstly I would like to congratulate both fighters for putting on one hell of an entertaining fight both in and out of the ring. The fight was close and the judges score cards reflected that, personally I would not have been surprised if it ended in a draw, but from what I could see George Groves controlled the action and fought the way he wanted to and deserved the win.

A rematch in the future would be great, and right now would be any ones fight to win, but we do not need the rematch. I would hope that they go their separate ways, develop as boxers and move onto bigger and better things, before meeting again in 2 or 3 years time as world champions.

Both of these guys have what it takes to become champion one day. DeGale has his boxing skills, his brain, his confidence. Groves has his power, discipline and heart. Comparing Groves last night against the Groves we saw just a few fights ago, its an amazing transformation. The man has worked hard and improved more than anyone expected him to.

The vast majority of pundits and boxing writers were writing him off before the fight and he deserves respect and congratulations for his victory. I guess that sparring with “talented” Andre Dirrell did him the world of good, even if he did come out of it with a black eye.

As for the fight last night I think a few things deserved to be mentioned. Firstly DeGale came into the fight acting like a jerk and was too confident, as his promoter Frank Warren said after the fight “This loss might be the best thing that could happen to him, maybe the back slappers can go away now and we can get down to some serious business”.

Secondly DeGale thought George Groves was going to come and slug it out with him, losing his cool and in the process opening himself up to counter punchers which would hopefully catch him off balance and send him to the canvass. Groves showed brilliant Discipline and stuck to his game plan, he fought the fight he wanted to fight, and it paid off on the night.

Also you have to remember DeGale did nothing in the first 4 rounds other than get frustrated and throw some illegal shots using his shoulder and elbow. He got a warning but in the eyes of most people was lucky not to have a point deducted. Clash of heads later in the fight also led to both fighters getting cuts on their eyes and Groves on the top of his head, but these clashes of heads did not appear to be malicious but more accidental.

By the end of the fight Groves had thrown and landed more punches than DeGale, he spent most of the fight making DeGales punches miss. Later in the fight DeGale tried to impress the judges by leaping in with fast flurries of slap-like Joe Calzaghe style punches, but the majority of the time all he managed to hit was thin air.

So please people do not try and take his victory away from George Groves, or discredit it. The fight was close, it was a war but Groves won by a round or two. Also remember this was a Frank Warren show, only the fans were in favour of Groves. So give the man his credit. In a rematch I believe James DeGale would most likely come back stronger, opting to fight a more aggressive fight, which might have gained him the victory last night at the o2 arena, but the man just did not want to pull the trigger. All he did was walk forward most of the fight, and all this achieved was him getting out-boxed and out-landed.

Congratulations George Groves, I hope you enjoy your doubled purse (assuming DeGale pays up).