{"id":825339,"date":"2026-07-26T17:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825339\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T17:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T17:41:14","slug":"gennadiy-golovkin-broke-my-rib-boxing-legend-opens-up-about-brutal-spar-with-triple-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825339\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gennadiy Golovkin broke my rib\u2019\u2026 Boxing legend opens up about brutal spar with \u2018Triple G\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gennadiy Golovkin left a British boxing icon in agony with a brutal shot to the body.<\/p>\n<p>In his career, this power puncher faced off with many an explosive fighter, but perhaps none more so than the ferocious Kazakh.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785087674_691_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gennadiy Golovkin broke George Groves\u2019 rib<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sporf.com\/?s=gennadiy+golovkin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gennadiy Golovkin<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sporf.com\/?s=george+groves\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">George Groves<\/a> are both blessed with dynamite in their fists, with many of their former opponents having been left sprawled out on the canvas after tasting their heavy hands.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, the idea of the pair trading leather with one another is an undeniably salivating prospect. And in the confines of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sporf.com\/?s=abel+sanchez\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Abel Sanchez\u2019s<\/a> gym in Big Bear, California, USA, that fantasy became a reality, with Golovkin ultimately catching the Englishman with a thunderous shot.<\/p>\n<p>In an exclusive interview with Sporf, via <a href=\"https:\/\/mrq.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mr Q<\/a>, Groves recalled: \u201cI sparred Gennadiy straight after I lost to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sporf.com\/?s=carl+froch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carl Froch<\/a> in the rematch at Wembley. We flew out to Big Bear maybe a month or so after. It was just an idea. It came via my trainer, Paddy Fitzpatrick. I don\u2019t know who his contact was out there. He was like, \u2018Let\u2019s go. I\u2019ve been to Big Bear, it\u2019s cool, and it\u2019ll be a good experience\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was out of shape, to be honest. It wasn\u2019t like I was coming to bring my A-game, but I wanted to experience Big Bear, and I wanted to spar with Golovkin, who was a formidable middleweight. I was a super-middleweight, so it didn\u2019t seem like a problem. We were never going to be rivals, and if we were, and he was to move up to super, then maybe I\u2019d have a little bit of know-how about him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a very good fighter. Probably one of the best fighters I\u2019ve ever sparred with, considering I had a size advantage over him. He could stalk the ring really well. He\u2019d set traps. We were in Abel Sanchez\u2019s gym, so he had a lovely big gym, but it was really hot, summertime in California. He had big heaters on in the gym. They do four-minute rounds with 30 seconds\u2019 rest. When you\u2019re a pasty Anglo-Saxon who\u2019s out of shape, jet-lagged, a little bit of sunburn, maybe even digesting a Corona from lunchtime, it wasn\u2019t the greatest idea. But I loved it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst spar, got through it. Second spar, let\u2019s knuckle down, eat a bit cleaner. I think I might have even got one run in before coming back three days later. And I\u2019m just giving a really good account of myself, trying to put it on him. You can always tell because the gym sort of starts to stop, and everyone starts to watch. But he\u2019s like ten days out from a fight, and I\u2019m two days into a training camp, if that\u2019s what you want to call it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGennadiy Golovkin broke my rib on the right side. So I think he shows up and then just shoots down, and I hear a loud crack. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, he broke my rib\u2019. But if anyone\u2019s going to break your rib, I\u2019m glad it was Gennadiy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe stopped the spar then because obviously, I wasn\u2019t really preparing for anything. I jumped out, thanked him for the rounds and then that was the end of my trip, to be honest. We went home after that. It was a great spar with a really good fighter, an amazing fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785087674_413_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Snipers everywhere\u2019\u2026 George Groves was warned \u2018you could get shot\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Sparring Golovkin isn\u2019t the only wild story Groves has from his boxing career.<\/p>\n<p>During one particular trip, \u2018St George\u2019 was warned that he had to be very careful.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on his crazy tales, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sporf.com\/snipers-everywhere-george-groves-was-warned-you-could-get-shot-boxing-legend-tells-crazy-story\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Groves revealed how he could\u2019ve been shot<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Featured Image Credit: Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gennadiy Golovkin left a British boxing icon in agony with a brutal shot to the body. In his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,23902,153702,85],"class_list":["post-825339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-gennadiy-golovkin","tag-george-groves","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}