GEORGE GROVES dared to spar one of boxing’s most feared punchers of all time while fat, out of shape and sunburnt.
It ended in a broken rib.
Groves had just been knocked out by Carl Froch in May 2014 when he got the call to come into Gennady Golovkin’s camp.
Golovkin at the time was putting the finishing touches to his preparation before his middleweight title fight against Daniel Geale – which he won in three rounds.
Groves meanwhile – still depressed from his KO loss to bitter rival Froch – took the opportunity to experience the famously gruelling high altitude of Big Bear.
Exhausting walks up the Californian mountains, mixed in with some lunchtime boozing while sunburnt did not exactly set him up for a day’s sparring with GGG.
Groves – while joined by Froch, Chris Eubank Sr and the British legend’s cousin, Harlem – recited the infamous sparring session.
He said on SunSport’s No Glove Lost episode ahead of Chris Eubank Jr’s rematch with Conor Benn: “I’ll give you the story, Chris.
“Golovkin, he’s like a week out from the fight and I’m sort of fat and out of shape and I’m in Big Bear, California and we climbed a mountain and I got sunburnt.
“I came down the bottom of the hill and I was like, ‘I’m jet-lagged, ain’t slept for like a whole day. I’m fat and out of shape but I’m jumping in the ring with Golovkin, I don’t care.’”
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“I’ll test myself out of shape. And I go in the gym and Abel Sanchez was his coach, and they used to wear this little body armour thing, like a little plastic thing.
“I think it’s an American football rib protector and he said, ‘Do you want one?’ I was like, ‘No, don’t show weakness.’ Not in this gym, Chris, right?
“So he goes, ‘Gennady wears one, he’s fine.’ I was like, ‘No, no. It’ll slow me down, don’t want it.’
“Sparred the first day, got through it fine, four minute rounds, heat in the gym, summertime, 90 degrees, gassed.
“I was like, ‘Right, I’m coming back Monday and I’m on it.’ So I come back Monday and I’m on it.
“Now I’ve stayed out of the sun, I haven’t had a beer at lunch, I’ve had proper breakfast, up at the gym, ready to go.
“‘Do you want the body protector?’ Absolutely not. I get about two-and-a-half rounds in and hear a loud crack. Broke the rib!
“Go back to the corner and it was like, ‘You OK? I said, ‘I broke my rib.’ So, ‘OK, jump out.’ I was like, ‘No, I can’t jump out.’
“It’s like, you’re fat and out of shape, you’re not boxing sunburn, you’re in a mess that’ll do. ‘Alright, cool. Ambulance, please!’”
I’m jet lagged, ain’t slept for like a whole day. I’m fat and out of shape but I’m jumping in the ring with Golovkin, I don’t care.’
George Groves
Eubank beamed: “The hardship is what the people want to know. I want to know about the hardship. I love that story.”
Froch then brought up the time he dropped Groves in Sheffield years before their two-fight double header.
But the Cobra admitted: “He got me back in the rematch at my amateur gym and he perforated my eardrum about a week before the Kessler fight and I was really upset.”
Eubank Jr had excellent sparring wars with Groves and Froch – while still a raw but hungry novice.
And Froch remembers: “I think Chris is quite a cool guy, he’s quite a composed character and I think a lot of it’s calculated and he kind of knows what he’s doing.
“From my opinion, I don’t think he’s phased. I don’t know what he did as a child when he first got into boxing.
Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn 2 – all the info
TIME for round two of this generation’s family feud!
Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn go punch-for-punch once again as both rivals look to make their fathers proud.
The blockbuster rematch takes place at the 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, November 15.
Eubank Jr narrowly outpointed his bitter foe after 12 brutal rounds in April to secure the bragging rights in what was certainly a Fight of the Year contender.
And the two British superstars will dance once more as Eubank Jr aims to do the double while Benn seeks revenge after suffering a first career loss.
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“I know he’d spent a bit of time in America and he was maybe chucked into the Lions’ den a little bit,and did a lot of good sparring.
“Like when he came to spar me, and I use that as an example because I’ve never had anybody turn up to spar me and just be so cool and confident and just get on with it.
“And actually really throw the punches and try and not be phased and come back, which for me is like, he’s serious about the game, he’s fit, he’s strong, he’s dedicated.”
Froch – who retired after his Wembley Stadium KO against Groves – makes Benn the favourite heading into Saturday’s rematch live on DAZN PPV.
He said: “They’re both gonna be fit, strong, determined to win.
“I just think that now in the rematch, the second fight, because of Chris Eubank Jr’s age and how hard the first fight was, and how his father has reinforced the weight-cutting problem, I just think he won’t be as good in the rematch.
“I might be proven wrong, I hope I am but I don’t think he can do that again to the level he did because he really finished strong with his foot on the pedal for the last two rounds and I was very impressed with the way he did that.
“Conor Benn will improve, he will learn from that. He’s 28 years old, he’ll grow, he’ll improve. When you’re at the age that Eubank Jr is, you don’t get better.
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“From my experience, you get a bit slower, the training becomes a bit harder, the desire, it’s just harder when you’re older, because we’re governed by age, time waits for no man.
“So I think the older Chris is probably gonna struggle a little bit more than what Conor will do.”
