‘I just heard this crack’ – George Groves recalls sparring a prime Gennady Golovkin and being left struggling to breathe

Gennady Golovkin broke George Groves’ rib during a sparring session which left the Brit struggling to breathe.

The former middleweight kingpin is one the biggest punchers pound-for-pound in boxing and had a fearsome aura around him during a sensational run between his debut and 2017.

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Hailing from Kazakhstan, the 39-year-old has never been stopped, or even knocked down, in boxing and has the power to make anyone’s life a living hell.

Former super-middleweight world champion Groves found this out firsthand when he sparred him at The Summit up in Big Bear Lake under the watchful eye of Abel Sanchez.

Despite the offer of protection, ‘Saint George’ refused and ended up with a hospital bill to boot.

“So Gennady wears this body protector,” Groves told . “It’s like an American football body armour thing.

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“It’s this thin plastic thing and it goes around your ribs. And he said, ‘Do you want one?’ And I said. ‘No, I’m not a f****!’

“He was like, ‘Are you sure? Because Gennady wears one?’ And I said no because it would get in the way.

“So I did the first spar and I did okay, but I’m breathing heavy and I’m struggling a bit. I think we did three/four rounds and that was enough, he had other sparring partners there.

“This was his last week of sparring before he is fighting and I was fresh off the plane from a KO loss in front of everyone.

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“So I said I had to do a bit better next time. He asked again, ‘Do you want the body belt?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m not a m****, I don’t want it.’

“So we get involved and I am doing much better this time; I’m catching him, I’m sticking it on him a bit but I’m conscious of the unfitness so I don’t want to gas out.

“Gennady is just brilliant, he has got that phenomenal power and it must all come from his lats, but he punches down on you and it’s a touch-touch-whip.

“I’m a wily old dog by now, I’ve been in there with everyone and you can’t do touch-touch-whip to me and get it odd - but he was!

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“I didn’t even know it was coming and it wasn’t like I could get the arm there in time but he got through it. I didn’t even see it coming.

“So I probably get a little bit carried away, right hand happy I used to be, and then he goes touch-touch-whip and I just hear this *crack*.

“There’s no help being 10,000 feet above sea level, but I can’t really get much air and the air that is coming in is actually really hurting. So I come back to the corner and was like, ‘I think he has broken my rib’.

“I didn’t want to get out, but there isn’t really a lot in this for me right now! So we said, ‘Abel, he’s hurt his rib.’

“And he said, ‘Okay, do you know where the hospital is?’”