Chris Eubank Junior was handed a crushing reality check at the hands of George Groves on Saturday night at the World Boxing Super Series.

Touted as the next best thing in British boxing, Eubank Jnr was taught a boxing lesson at the Manchester Arena in a defeat that leaves his career in doubt. There's every reason to suggest the 28-year-old will have to fight his way through journeymen before another shot in a top fight.

He has been handed advice from the likes of Tony Bellew, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren concerning everything from his decision to train himself to his father.

Prince Naseem Hamed even suggested, to the amusement of ITV's viewers, that Junior should even hang up his gloves after the unanimous decision fell in Groves' favour.

Whatever your opinion on the matter, though, nobody can argue that the fight has levelled the expectations surrounding Eubank Jnr. 

The hype surrounding Eubank Jnr last year

There was a lot of hype surrounding the 28-year-old and that was no more fanned by Eubank Snr who notoriously claimed his son would match Floyd Mayweather.

And one man who was guilty of jumping on the hype train was none other than Carl Froch back in January 2017, in spite of the fact he would later back Groves going into this month's fight.

Eubank Jnr was receiving a lot of criticism at the time, when Groves came to his defence in an interview with iFL TV ahead of James DeGale's fight with Badou Jack.

Froch backed Eubank Jnr to beat Golovkin

The Nottingham-based fighter stated: "[Eubank Jr.] is a very good fighter, very skillful, very hard, very fit and a real force to be reckoned with at middleweight.

"I'd love to see him fight Triple G and I think that he can beat Triple G - I really do."

Wow, just wow.

After defeat to Groves, you'd struggle to find another man backing Eubank Jnr in the now unforeseeable circumstance of a fight with Gennady Golovkin, arguably the finest pound-for-pound fighter in boxing today.

Scarily, though, it was very nearly a possibility with Eddie Hearn negotiating the fight in 2016 only for the Eubank camp to get cold feet.

It's worth noting that Froch has always been something of a Golovkin skeptic and his backing of Junior has waned in recent months, but the comment still looks remarkable now.

When you look at the exchanges Triple G and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez were involved in last year, Eubank Jnr would be in serious trouble even though he's a much better fight at middleweight.

There'd be ever reason to think it would a quiet night for the judges if it went down.