Copper Box Arena, London - In his first fight since last September's defeat at the hands of WBC champion Badou Jack, and the first fight with new trainer Shane McGuigan, super middleweight contender George Groves (22-3, 17KOs) dominated and stopped Andrea Di Luisa (18-4, 14KOs) in five rounds..
Di Luisa came out being aggressive, but didn't get much in as Groves back him off with hard shots. Di Luisa took the punches well and backed off. A battle of jabs at the start of the second. Groves controlled the action and continued to keep Di Luisa at bay in the third. Di Luisa was degraded to throwing a simple jab without any real firepower following that flow. Groves was dominating the action and starting to let his punches go.
In the fifth, Di Luisa began to fall apart. He went down from a hard shot to the body and seemed like a fighter who had enough and was ready to quit. After rising, Groves unleashed with a combination to send Di Luisa down for a second time. At that point Di Luisa looked to his corner, who threw in the towel to stop the onslaught.
Groves had few issues with Di Luisa, but now he's bounced back and showed that he's still a durable fighter at the weight. He now wants a much tougher opponent in his next fight out. A huge domestic rematch with IBF champion James DeGale is always on the table and there are several other notable names in the weight class.
