George Groves wins one-sided decision over Eduard Gutknecht
British super middleweight contender George Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) scored a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision over former world title challenger Eduard Gutknecht (30-5-1, 13 KOs) on Friday night at Wembley Arena in London.
Groves dominated the action throughout and won by scores of 119-110, 119-109 and 119-109.
The Londoner busted up Gutknecht with hard blows from the early rounds.
Groves continued to land numerous big rights as the fight progressed, and by the 10th, the German fighter was cut around his badly swollen left eye.
But Gutknecht showed his toughness, taking further punishment as Groves connected with more powerful combinations, surviving to the final bell.
Groves, who retained his WBA International super middelweight title, has lost each of his three world-title bouts, but he has now won four fights in a row, under new trainer Shane McGuigan, since losing on points to WBC champion Badou Jack last year.
The victory sets him up to challenge for the vacant WBA super middleweight title early next year. Previous titleholder Felix Sturm vacated the belt last month.
Sturm dethroned Fedor Chudinov by way of a highly controversial majority decision in February, but he later tested positive for steroids.
After the fight, Gutknecht fell ill in his changing room and was taken to hospital.
Gutknecht, who has now undergone surgery, is sedated and will continue to be monitored in the coming days, according to the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC).
Also on the card, British 2012 Olympian Andrew Selby (7-0, 5 KOs) stopped Filipino opponent Jake Bornea (11-2, 5 KOs) in the seventh round to win the vacant IBF Inter-Continental flyweight title.