By: Hans Themistode
Whenever Gennadiy Golovkin’s name came up on the boxing schedule, both fans and his opponents could expect one thing. Pain, and a lot of it.
Unlike most boxing matches where both men could easily hurt the other, when Golovkin fought, the pain was always one way traffic. Fight after fight, Golovkin found himself on the Sports Center highlight reel.
Knockouts in the fifth round, stoppages in the second and numerous TKOs in the first. Golovkin’s highlight tape has it all.
But it wasn’t just that Golovkin was handing out beatings left and right, but he also didn’t receive as much as a scar. In 350 amateur fights, by the way he won 345 of them, and 41 professional contests, Golovkin has never hit the ground let alone been visibly hurt.
But as they say, Father Time is undefeated and Golovkin, now aged 38, looked a bit vulnerable recently. In his last ring appearance against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Golovkin seemed to be hurt by a body shot in the fifth round before ultimately winning the contest by controversial decision.
A rematch was thought to be on the cards next but instead, Golovkin will get the fight he’s been waiting for.
Through two fights with Canelo Alvarez, many could argue that Golovkin should be 2-0 instead of 0-1-1. And while both have been competitive fights, that could change. With Canelo now in the prime of his life and Golovkin clearly on the back end of his, that seems like a recipe for disaster.
“This one maybe will hurt,” said former Golovkin trainer Abel Sanchez. “Not because I’m not with him, but [this time it could] hurt because he gets hurt. [The trilogy is] not only the most significant, it’s the most dangerous because you’re talking about a guy who is at his peak now and believes he can do the same thing to Gennadiy that he did to Kovalev.”
“[Canelo] baited, baited, baited and waited for that right moment and it was destructive. I would hate to see Gennadiy go into that fight… or I would rather not see the fight than to see Gennadiy succumb to something like that, not being prepared physically and mentally.”
