George Groves secured a superb stoppage victory over Francisco Sierra as he made a long-awaited return on the undercard of Robert Guerrero and Selcuk Aydin in San Jose, California.

The reigning British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion was forced to withdraw from his last two bouts through injury and was looking to improve his fitness, as well as put on an impressive performance.

It was no simple task against a Mexican fighter who had won 22 of his 25 wins by stoppage and was known to possess real power in both hands.

George Groves
George Groves stops Francisco Sierra in the sixth round

Groves was in action for the first time since he demolished Paul Smith inside two rounds back in November last year and was hoping to put some rounds under his belt as he looks to once again secure a world title opportunity.

'The Saint' was on top from the outset and looked to land his power shots both to the head and the body, before suffering a nasty cut above the eye after an accidental clash of heads in the third round.

Sierra continued to stand tall throughout the contest as he looked for one punch to bring a halt to proceedings, but it was Groves who continued to enjoy success as jabbed to the body and used superb movement to keep out of trouble.

In the sixth round he found a four punch combination that Sierra did well to recover from as he found himself on the canvas for the first time in the contest.

The final left and right-hook would have stopped many opponent but Sierra refused to stay down and Groves rushed in to find another huge right-hand which led the Mexican fighters corner to throw in the towel.