George Groves made a winning return to action on Saturday night in his first fight since losing to Carl Froch in May by outpointing Frenchman Christopher Rebrasse at Wembley Arena.

The unanimous verdict saw Groves claim Rebrasse’s European super middleweight crown and the vacant WBC silver title.

The fight also doubled as a final eliminator for the WBC world title, which means Groves could now face Anthony Dirrell for a shot at the undefeated US boxer’s belt.

Groves came into the fight on the back of successive defeats to to IBF and WBA champion Froch — the first of his career — with his eighth-round defeat at Wembley Stadium earlier this year following the controversial nine-round defeat to the same opponent last November.

Even though he was the challenger, the 26-year-old Londoner was still the favourite against Rebrasse, who had won 22 of 27 fights at a lower level, and he was soon on top as golf star Rory McIlroy watched on from ringside.

However, despite largely dominating throughout, Groves was unable to put the tough Frenchman away and was forced to go all 12 rounds.

With his title slipping away, Rebrasse tried to launch a counter-attack in the closing rounds, but Groves never looked in trouble and took the title, with two judges giving ‘The Saint’ victory by 118-110 and one by 117-111.

Groves said of his win: “It feels great.

“It was a tough fight. Rebrasse was a good opponent, a tough guy, he took an awful lot of punches. I knew it was going to be tough. I didn’t want to run out of steam, I felt in great condition but you always have to be cautious against a guy who has never been stopped.

“I want to knock people out, I didn’t manage it tonight but I gave it a real good go.”