British super-middleweight George Groves has admitted that he suffered a cracked rib during sparring with Gennady Golovkin in 2014.
Groves was responding to claims made by Martin Murray that he had quit after first encountering one of the world's best pound-for-pound fighters at a training camp two years ago, but the Londoner has given his version of the story in which we confirmed that he had suffered a blow to his ribs.
The 28-year-old told Boxing News Online: "The first spar, he caught me with a fair few shots. The second time, I gave a real good account of myself, but that was the day he caught me with a left hook round the side of the rib.
"I felt something that didn't feel normal, I carried on with the spar, I didn't go down or roll around in agony, I didn't quit. The funny thing is, Gennady was sparring with this body protector on, he was getting ready for a fight, he didn't want any injuries, and they offered me one and I've never used one so I though it'd get in the way so I said 'no it'll be alright, I won't need it.' Sod's law, I ended up cracking a rib."
Groves and Murray have been exchanging words in the build-up to their WBA title eliminator at London's O2 Arena on Saturday night.
Darren Plant
