Danny Green breaks Dominic Vea's nose in brutal sparring session - Daily Telegraph
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Danny Green breaks Dominic Vea's nose in brutal sparring session
By Christian Nicolussi
April 02, 2010 12:00AM
NOBODY gets paid enough to do this.
Suburban slugger Dominic Vea yesterday became Danny Green's personal punching bag and after six bruising rounds, Vea was left with a broken nose, a blood-soaked face and not a penny in his pockets.
But the chance to go toe-to-toe with Green was priceless for Vea.
"I've got a cut on the lip, but Danny is a world-class fighter," said the Blacktown-raised Vea, 28, who has his own pro stoush next Thursday against Wagga local Anthony McCracken.
"When you're sparring you only go at 80 per cent, but it wasn't one of my good ones. I can tell you I've never had my nose broken before."
Green, who at one stage restricted all punches to the body in a bid to protect Vea's face, could not have looked better as he rounded out his preparations for the April 14 world-title fight against Manny Siaca.
Strutting his stuff before some of Australia's biggest sporting names, including Eels Jarryd Hayne, Ben Smith, Luke Burt and Feleti Mateo, Sharks coach Ricky Stuart (who asked for Hayne to be Green's next sparring partner), former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich and fellow boxing world champion Vic Darchinyan, "The Green Machine" praised Vea.
"I've sparred Dom a lot, he's a really brave kid," Green said. "Every time these guys come to spar me they bring their A game, and Dom came out hard early.
"While he was giving it his all, I was seeing and blocking his shots and picking away.
"At one stage his nose was pouring with blood and, with Dom being a mate of mine, I wanted to look after him.
"I said 'you have to take this', but when I saw the blood I said, 'let's keep it all to the body'. I've paid my dues for 20 years sparring and know what it's like to be hurt.
"Dom wouldn't have stopped if his eyes were down the back of his throat, so I admire his courage."
Green, who stunned the boxing world with his first-round stoppage of Roy Jones Jr in December (Jones Jr will fight Bernard Hopkins in the US this weekend) said he would not take Siaca lightly.
"I'm the consummate professional," he said. "Siaca is a different opponent to Roy Jones. He hasn't got the massive international name like Roy Jones, but it will be a tough fight for me because Siaca will be hungry.
"If he can take my world title, it will open the door for more big fights for him overseas. Hopefully he'll be in a world of trouble."
Hayne, who said roommate Smith would beat him in a fight, said of Green: "He's such a professional athlete. Boxing is not much different to a team sport, you've got your mates around you all the time, and you could tell how switched on he is when he trains. That session was crazy."
Stuart, whose Sharks play Parramatta in the NRL tomorrow night, said he admired any top-level sportsperson.