George Groves came up short in his third attempt to win a world title after a split decision loss to Badou Jack, who retained his WBC super-middleweight crown in Las Vegas.

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Groves overcame a first round knockdown at the MGM Grand and fought valiantly in the first half of the bout but his Swedish-born opponent was the superior fighter in the championship rounds.

While the Briton earned the nod on one of the judge’s scorecards 114-113, Jack took the other two by scores of 115-112 and 116-111 to hand Groves the third loss of his professional career – following a pair of world title defeats to compatriot Carl Froch.

“I thought I won the fight decisively,” said, Groves who has now likely to miss out on a lucrative rematch with IBF champion James DeGale who he beat in 2011. “Losing a world title fight is the worst feeling in the world.”

Meanwhile, in London, British heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua destroyed Gary Cornish inside a round to continue his meteoric rise.

Joshua needed just 97 seconds to knock out Cornish and claim the Commonwealth heavyweight title.

The 25-year-old dumped Cornish to the canvas twice to earn an emphatic victory and stretch his unbeaten record as a professional to 14 fights.

Cornish had gone into the fight with a 21-fight unbeaten record and high hopes of becoming the first man to defeat the Olympic super-heavyweight champion.

But while the Inverness man showed plenty of intent to attack from the opening bell his admirable ambition simply played into Joshua’s hands.

Joshua will next face fellow Londoner Dillian Whyte on December 12 who extended his own unbeaten record to 16 fights with a third round stoppage of Brian Minto on the undercard.