By Chris McKenna, courtesy of The Daily Star

JAMES DEGALE and George Groves were involved in a massive backstage bust up in Liverpool today.

The super-middleweight rivals were weighing in for their respective bouts on the undercard of Tony Bellew and Nathan Cleverly's highly-anticipated rematch.

But with both men on edge as they boiled down to the 12 stone [168-pound] limit, trouble flared up.

Words were exchanged when the pair walked past each other behind the stage at Liverpool's iconic St George's Hall.

It sparked some pushing and shoving that escalated into both fighter's camps and family members getting involved.

Security waded in to break it up before serious punches were thrown but it sparked up again when they brushed past each other just minutes later.

Again both sides' families got involved but neither fighter is believed to have been struck.

It shows the needle between the pair still exists as they did not even do this for the cameras with it all happening out of sight.

Groves beat DeGale as an amateur and again in 2011 in the professional ranks.

They grew up in the same amateur gym, Dale Youth, but never got on.

DeGale is in action tomorrow night against Marco Periban as he sets his sights on IBF champion Carl Froch.

Groves takes on American Denis Douglin with a WBC title shot against Anthony Dirrell on the cards for 2015.

But the two Londoners look on course for a rematch next year if their rivalry continues to bubble.

Meanwhile, Bellew and Cleverly both weighed in at 14stone 3lbs [199-pounds] for their cruiserweight clash at the sold-out Echo Arena tomorrow night.

The pair exchanged words on stage but nobody got physically involved despite fears it could have descended into farce in front of around 1500 fans.