By: William Holmes
The Forum in Inglewood, California was the host site for tonight’s HBO World Championship Boxing telecast. Two world title fights were on the line as Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (32-0) defended his WBA and WBC Interim Middleweight titles against Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1) and Roman Gonzalez (42-0) took on Edgar Sosa (51-8) for the WBC Flyweight title.
Photos: Tom Hogan/Hogan Photos
Flyweight sensation Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (32-0) opened up tonight’s telecast against Edgar Sosa (51-8) in the flyweight division.
There was a lot of anticipation for Gonzalez’s HBO debut, as many had considered him a top five pound for pound fighter but he had never fought on US television.
Both boxers fought out of an orthodox stance, and Gonzalez started off by stalking his opponent and controlling the distance early on. His punches were keeping Sosa on the retreat and he started landing power punches at a high frequency from the first minute of the round on. At one point he connected with two hard right crosses followed by a combination that had Sosa falling face forward but it was ruled a punch. Gonzalez ended the first round strong with heavy and hard combos.
Gonzalez opened up the second round with a lead left hook followed by a right cross. He had Sosa on the retreat and Sosa was unable to avoid the aggressive attacks of Gonzalez. Gonzalez sent Sosa down early with a right cross followed by a left uppercut that sent Sosa down a second time. As soon as Sosa got back to his feet he was met with a double left hook and several more pin point accurate strong shots that sent Sosa down for a third, perhaps unnecessary time.
The referee immediately jumped in to stop 2:37 of the second round.
Gennady Golovkin (32-0) and Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1) met in the main event of the night for the WBA and WBC Interim Middleweight titles.
Monroe, a southpaw, was put on the defensive early and spent the first round circling towards Golovkin’s left. Monroe was keeping his jabs in the face of Golovkin, but Golovkin was landing hard shots at will including heavy hooks to the body and head. Golovkin was taking the punches of Monroe well and ended the round while landing heavy body shots.
Monroe opened up the second round with a triple jab, but was met with an immediate right cross. Monroe was backing out and trying to duck and dodge the shots of Golovkin, but Golovkin was hurting him and sent Monroe down with a left hook. Monroe was able to get back up but Golovkin was wildly attacking him and sent him down again from a hard double left hook. When Monroe got back to his feet he was able to land a hard left counter uppercut on a moving forward Golovkin, but he took the punch well and landed several more hard shots on Monroe who was trying to fight back.
Golovkin was not phased by Monroe’s punches and kept coming forward in the third round and was landing several more hard shots, but Golovkin was starting to slow down and Monroe was picking up the pace in the third.
Monroe’s best round of the night was in the fourth round when he was making Golovkin work for his shots and Monroe was landing heavy punches of his own. Monroe was landing straight lefts and might have equaled the punch output of Golovkin, but Golovkin was landing the heavier shots when he connected.
Golovkin had Monroe momentarily hurt in the opening moments of the fifth round with an uppercut and had him backed into a corner. Golovkin connected with another hard combination that hard Monroe momentarily on shaky legs, but he was still fighting back and connected with a straight left right hook combination. Monroe ended the round fighting with his back against the ropes against a stalking Golovkin.
Golovkin landed another hard left uppercut in the sixth round that had Monroe stunned and on shaky legs. Monroe went down to his knees and barely beat the count of ten. The referee asked Monroe if he wanted to continue, and Monroe told the referee he’s done.
Gennady Golovkin wins by TKO at 0:45.
