Groves silences De Gale in the ring

In one of the most eagerly anticipated domestic fights in the last ten years, George Groves proved to De Gale that his not balls over brains, with a tatical victory over his fearce rival.

All of the pre-fight build up, with the majority of the bad mouthing coming from the De Gale camp, had created alot of talk by pundits and joe public. From speaking to people myself, the majority thought that Groves was u

p against it, but hoped he could pull something out of the bag and shush the trash-talking, verging on arrogant De Gale, who we must remember, was only in his tenth professional fight, and had previously fought against come forward opponents.

After all the trash talking was over, it was time for business. And as it got closer to the 10.30 start time, the atmosphere in the o2 arena had reached boiling point and it resembled the kind of atmospheres that were created by the now iconic battles between Benn vs Eubank, fights that have been etched into my memory since I was a kid. As the two fighters entered the ring, it was clear that the crowd were on Groves' side, hoping that the "ugly ginger kid" would shut De Gale up.

Personally, I hoped that groves would shut De Gale up, but always feared that if he went into the fight with the same mentality as he did in the Kelly Anderson fight, then de gale would have been too clasy for him.

As the fight began one thing was clear, Adam Booth had a plan set out for beating De Gale, and it didn't involve having a tear up with him. Groves was fighting from the outside using a lot of lateral movement, looking for counter punches. In the early rounds, it was clear that Groves had out-thought De Gale, as even though De Gale controlled the centre of the ring, he never asserted himself with punches.

By the half way point in the fight, Adam Booth told Groves that De Gale had run out of ideas, and it seemed true. The second half of the fight was much closer however, with De Gale, shortening the distance between the two fighters and beginnig to land some cleaner punches.

The ninth round seemed to shows real signs that fight was back in De Gales court, as he landed a beautiful left on Groves, and then landed another good one-two before the end of the round, and Groves' guard had lowered, worrying signs that he was maybe reverting to type, which would of played right into De Gales hands.

However this was not this case as Groves piled the pressure back on to De Gale in the tenth, with a flurry of shots, and at this point De Gale seemed distracted by a cut, as he was constantly dabbing the blood away.

By the twelth round, it was clear that it was a close fight, with the feeling that De Gale needed a knockdown or a knockout to win the fight, and to be fair he tried to force the issue in the early exchanges, but Groves, refusing to be denied ended the round the stronger, caught De Gale with some heavy combinations.

It was an evenly-matched, sometimes non-event of a fight, James De Gale showed tatical inefficiencies that ultimately cost him the fight, albeit it only just on the scorecards.

A delighted Groves at the end added: “I showed that he can't beat me. I can't lose. I will not let anyone beat me. That's what I've got inside. I will always find an answer."

”No disrespect to James DeGale, I've trash-talked him far too much. He's a tremendous fighter."

Tonight was the ultimate case of a bark being louder that the bite. de gale never came out and imposed himself with punches. I'm not a boxing expert, I have never thought in my life (unless being heavyweight champion on fightnight 2011 counts) but even i could see that the uppercut should have been a puch that de gale should have tried to utilse more.

This was a very tense, evenly matched fight, that could easily be made to happen again. Frank Warren was in demand of a rematch. But I feel as though these two fighters have the potential to meet each other again in the future, and who knows, it could be with a world title at stake next time.

On a slightly lighter note there were three moments that tickled me during the broadcast.

1. Adam booth getting one up on De Gale, saying that he can "forget the bet". at the pre-fight press conference, de gale offered in a bet to cover groves' wage if he beat him.

2. De gale and his trainer celebrating when they heard "and still undefeated", forgetting that a Mr Groves was also undefeated going into the fight. looked slightly silly when the decision was awrded in groves' favour.

3. Frank warrens interview. his head was swaying from side to side so much you'd think he was watching a tennis match.

The Ashes: My man of the series

After having time to reflect and have a few victory sips of my coffee after a overall dominant display from the England boys I have made my verdict on the man of the series... But let me first mention the men who I didn't choose...

James Anderson - Had the best wicket haul of any English bowler since the 1950's. Was a superb leader of the bowling attack and is such a

joy to watch when in form.

I remember when he first burst onto the scene, swinging the ball around corners at the

World Cup, barely able to say boo to a goose in interviews. Since then he has had a real journey as a player. He struggled to

fulfil his early promise in test cricket, had problems with his action, then injuries thrown into the mix, people a couple of years ago were writing him off.

It is a credit to him as a person that he has come back and persevered through these times and it has helped him gain an inner strength within himself. He now comes out and regularly does interviews and displays a great knowledge of the game.

Oh, and his bowling has improved too! Was able to swing the kookaburra ball he has struggled with in the past. He showed great control and discipline when the ball got softer to maintain pressure on the Aussie bowlers. He was also able to swing the ball which ever way he wanted when the ball began to reverse, the best example of this was the way he worked over Michael Clark in the final test.

Overall a great display from Jimmy and hopefully a sign of things to come from 2011 from the Burnley Bullet.

Alastair Cook - Broke so many records I'm not going to bother to mention them

all. To summarise, scored more runs than you normally see on a countdown maths problem, spent more minutes at the crease that Shane Warne spent bed hopping and showed more grace than David Beckham and co. being given a certificate for gaining one vote by a certain self loving french whats

a name.

To put it into perspective, this was a man who was being named as the weak lin

k before the series, with many a pundit and settee experts 9including myself) questioning his place in the side.

How we were proved wrong in fabulous fashion. He showed great mental strength to play some gritty innings and really demoralise the Aussie bowlers, who never seemed to have a plan to stop him.

Let's the that the man who runs scored is only behind the wizard that is Tendulkar when looking at this stage of their careers can carry on to be a great, because he has the tempriment to be a England legend.

And my man of the series is.....

Andy Flower - The man behind the scenes has let the players take the limelight throughout the series, has always played back any compliments towards himself with a faultless straight bat. The man has transformed this England side into a real unit with direction, it says it all that Cook, Petersen and Prior were all under pressure coming into this series, because they all know that under Flower you need to be at your best or you will be out, it's a simple as that.

Example: Finn was dropped after the third test, the word being used was that he was 'tired'. He may have been, but the fact is that in the last game Finn had shown signs of scattergun bowling and was bowling a tad short.

The way Flower and Strauss have lead this side demands a great deal of respect and praise. They have been able to create a great sense of harmony and made all members of the squad feel valuable. The sense of it being a bit of a old boys club being part if the side has gone, the younger players are made to feel important, allowed the same guidance and support that the more established members of the team are given.

To put it simply, I truly believe that if it wasn't for Flower and Strauss, E ngland fans and players wouldn't be where they are now, poking a very sharp stick at the Aussies, and who can blame us?

There is still a one day series to play, but if I'm honest, I really couldn't give a stuff, for the first time in my lifetime we have won the Ashes in Australia, and I'm going to savour the moment for a little while longer yet...