Gennady Golovkin says George Groves is a good boxer but lacks power and aggression

The super-middleweight on Saturday begins rebuilding his career against Andrea Di Luisa at London’s Copper Box Arena in his first outing since his third unsuccessful world-title fight, against Badou Jack in September.

That defeat was his third in five fights and third from three for a world title, and that it came against one of the more beatable champions in Jack has cast doubt over whether Groves can ever succeed at that level.

His performances have been in decline since impressing with his exceptional aggression before being controversially stopped in the first of his two defeats by Carl Froch, but Groves has since replaced trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick with Shane McGuigan.

Under Fitzpatrick he spent time sparring with Golovkin in California, and the feared IBF and WBA middleweight champion - described as the “new Mike Tyson” owing to his 31 knockouts from 34 fights - has seen enough to believe Groves can win a world title with an eventual fourth attempt.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, he has questioned Groves’ power and aggression - each were previously considered two of his greatest strengths - but believes that improving both can lead to success.

“George is a good boxer, he’s a good boxer,” said Golovkin, who was speaking in London as a guest of William Storey Management.

“I don’t feel he’s strong, or has a lot of power, but he’s a good boxer, has good distance, good balance, good combinations. I like his style.

“I remember George’s last fight, he needed more power, more activity, more aggression. He’s very smart, he’s too smart to fight.

“I think (he can still win a world title), right now it’s not a bad position for him, the (open) super-middleweight division, because he had a very close fight with Badou Jack, who’s the WBC champion. It was a very close fight, (losing by) maybe one or two points.

“(His weakness is) I think power, just the power. He’s a good boxer: he needs more power, so that when he punches (a fight’s) finished.”

Rumours persist that, when Groves sparred Golovkin in the build-up to his defeat of Christophe Rebrasse in 2014 he knocked the Kazakh down.

Against one of the world’s finest fighters that would prove impressive even if was only a spar, but Golovkin is adamant the rumours are simply not true.

“We were just training, I helped him, he helped me,” he said.

“I did a couple of times (punching the) body, I broke (his) ribs I think, just I punched him, and his corner just said ‘Okay, it’s finished, stop’.

“For me, it was a very easy spar, very easy. I’d had maybe a couple days more, maybe one week. It was my second week sparring, for George it was the first week sparring,

“I felt more comfortable. New sparring, new guy, maybe he had a lot of weight, because he was too slow for me.”