By Mark Turley

Four months ago, before 80,000 eager fans, ‘Saint’ George Groves was driven to the ring at Wembley Stadium atop a double decker bus, silhouetted against incandescent fireworks. Last night, at the slightly humbler arena next door, his arrival was a touch more muted. After two successive losses, the pyrotechnics were hand held by dancers and a brass band played him in.

Despite the expectations of many, including George himself, that heady night back in May proved not to be his coming out-party as an elite fighter. A momentary 8th round lapse in concentration and Carl Froch’s wrecking-ball right hand revived old doubts about stamina and chin, doubts that may now take years to banish.

Some fighters don’t recover from that sort of defeat and Groves unquestionably looked more circumspect as he made his way through the crowd. The bash-street-kid grin was nowhere to be seen. He walked with a touch less swagger. This was no gimme for George’s first time back, he expressly said he didn’t want one, but a definite step down from world level, nonetheless. His opponent, the French and European Champion, Christophe Rebrasse (22-2-3), a man mysteriously ranked third by the WBC, despite not having one recognisable name on his record, also appeared tense, awed by the occasion, even nervous as the platinum tonsils of Michael Buffer competed with the trumpets in the upper tier to call the crowd to attention.

For both combatants, this bout was an opportunity. Groves’ new Sauerland promotional team saw in it a chance to cast him once more as the upstart hero - at 26 he can still play that role - and to mount a challenge against American Anthony Dirrell for the WBC belt, while for Rebrasse, a durable, unexceptional performer with a decent jab, the evening represented an surprise stab at dragging himself out of continental obscurity.

George’s promise beforehand had been to show a ruthless streak and he seemed hell-bent on keeping it. This wasn’t the jab-and-grab Groves who outpointed James Degale at the O2 in 2011, or the safety-first operator of the opening seven rounds against Froch in the summer, but in some ways a return to the dashing cavalier of Manchester last November, who was so unlucky not to wrest the IBF belt from the Nottingham cobra.

For the first three rounds Groves went all out, fighting aggressively, even recklessly, often prepared to take three or four full-blooded shots to create chances to land his own. The lack of power shown by the Frenchman previously perhaps made it easy for George to abandon all caution, but the way the West Londoner went after his man provided a terse response to those who thought Froch may have left him gun-shy.

Yet Christophe Rebrasse proved to be tougher than many suspected. He absorbed numerous Groves’ right hands and even had bursts of brief success. The Saint dominated much of the action, but was unable to get the KO he hoped for.

“I want to knock people out.” He said after a  wide unanimous decision had been announced in his favour. “I didn’t manage to do it tonight. Rebrasse was a champion and very tough.”

“We knew it was going to be a tough fight.” Chimed George’s mercurial trainer, Paddy Fitzpatrick, “but the most important thing was to get back to winning ways. We can push on from here.”

Most of the post-fight talk centred not on what Groves had achieved, by becoming European and WBC ‘Silver’ champion, but on what it should mean for the near future. George has his eyes on bigger goals before Christmas.

“Compared to the level I’ve been fighting at, in some ways this was a comedown.” He said. “but we tried to make it an event. We want Dirrell as soon as possible now. He’s been disrespectful and that’s the fight we want next. Who knows, after that we could go a third time with Carl Froch.”

As the crowd filtered away into the Wembley dark, under the night- lights of the great stadium where George fluffed his lines in May, the whole night definitely had a ‘before the main feature’ feel. Groves has already shown, many times, that he can dominate these sorts of productions with aplomb.

Both he and the Sauerland brothers know where they really want to be and later this year the urchin-faced Hammersmith lad should receive his next curtain call for the big stage. When that happens, Groves will need to show the world, definitively, that he can step up and play the leading man.

Pick of the undercard at Wembley Arena saw wins for the Yafai brothers and Hull’s exciting lightweight prospect, Luke Campbell, who went to 8-0 with a 7th round TKO over Polish trial horse Krzysztof Szot.