George Groves interview: ‘Of course my boxing instinct changed after the Eduard Gutknecht fight’
In November 2016, Groves beat Gutknecht on points before the German was taken to hospital with a bleed on the brain. He remains mute and wheelchair-bound
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It is still not 12 months since George Groves used his fists to inadvertently change his life and that of Eduard Gutknecht forever.
On that desperate night at Wembley Arena in November, Groves did everything right. One of the most complete performances of his career had secured a comfortable 12-round decision over the Kazakhstan-born German.
Many observers on the night recoiled at the amount of punishment 'Energy Eddie' was taking, particularly in the later rounds, but there was no stoppage from the referee or the corner as Groves was forced to continue punching until the final bell.
Not long after, back in the changing rooms, Gutknecht collapsed and was rushed to St Mary's hospital where he underwent serious surgery to address the swelling on his brain.
Groves visited Gutknecht in hospital before he was taken back home to Germany for further treatment. Gutknecht's wife later revealed he was lucky to be alive and had been left wheelchair-bound and mute.
On Saturday, in the World Boxing Super Series quarter final, Groves will box at the Wembley Arena for the first time since that night when he defends his WBA super-middleweight crown against Swindon's Jamie Cox.
Groves insists the venue will matter little to him but says his fighting instinct has been altered as a result of the Gutknecht accident.
"I don't think the arena as such will affect me - it could be anywhere,” the 29-year-old said.
"It's a ring, once I'm in that ring it feels like anywhere else in the world so I'm not too concerned or nervous about going back to Wembley."
Groves has boxed once since that night, when he fulfilled his dream of becoming world champion via a sixth-round stoppage of Fedor Chudinov.
That night, he was a different fighter to the one who climbed through the ropes in November.
"I can remember it quite clearly,” said Groves, reflecting on the victory at Bramall Lane. “There was a definite break where Chudinov comes in.
"He doesn't have the ability to tie me up, but he ends up underneath my arm and I look at the ref, and I'm almost looking at him as if to say 'What do you reckon? A bit more?'
"Then obviously we break, and then I catch him with three, four, five punches and then it's over, and then I remember thinking 'I'm happy about that'.
“I've been in a few fights where I keep drilling guys - Carl Froch, those sort of people - and they just keep coming. Apart from the fact I want to win, and I want to keep this going, you do think about Gutknecht.
"Did I get that feeling before the Gutknecht fight? No. It's definitely a new thing... definitely.
"Will it always be carried into fights? I don't know, maybe, maybe not.”
Aside from Gutknecht, Wembley Arena holds sobering memories for Groves due to another of 2016's dark nights.
On March 26, Easter Saturday of last year, Nick Blackwell suffered life-altering injuries as a result of a 10th-round stoppage defeat to Chris Eubank.
He too was placed in a medically induced coma and required neurosurgery at St Mary's.
Groves had been one of Blackwell's key sparring partners in the weeks and months leading up to the bout and he can remember feeling that something was wrong.
“So far in this camp, in decent sparring sessions, I haven't carried what happened with Eduard with me,” he said.
“But what was just as prominent was that I was doing a lot of sparring with Nick Blackwell before he fought Chris Eubank.
“He gave just as good as he got in sparring, but we're landing loads of shots on each other, and from there he goes into that fight.
“He didn't look right, fight week. I thought that last spar we had, he just seemed a bit off. It was a huge fight: I think he took a few days off, felt a lot better, and went into the fight, but maybe something wasn't right.
“But it's so strange that it happened so soon after it happened to Gutknecht.”
So did those two incidents make him assess his position in the sport?
“Well yeah,” Groves admits. “Not just me, my mum and dad, my wife, close friends and family.
"I know there'll be happy when I say I've had enough and I call it a day because of the risks that come with boxing.
“What happened with Gutknecht does frequently cross my mind, but I can't do anything about my situation. I need to carry on boxing so that's what I've been doing.
“I just have to put it to the back of my mind. It is the way it is right now, I still need to box, I still want to box and until that changes that's what I'll be doing.”
Tickets for the quarter-final clash Groves vs. Cox on Saturday at The SSE Arena, Wembley are on sale ranging from £35 to £130 at axs.com.
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