Good Boy Golovkin is destined to become the main man

Andy Lewis 06:47 13/10/2014
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  • G-force: Golovkin unleashes his power against Curtis Stevens during their WBA Middleweight title fight at Madison Square Garden in New York last year.

    In contrast to the antics of so many of his contemporaries, Gennady Golovkin is more likely to ambush an opponent with kind words on the eve of a big fight, rather than indulge in the more familiar dark art of trash talking.

    The Kazakh phenomenon has been, as is his way, a consummate gentleman throughout the prelude to this Saturday’s WBA & IBO Middleweight title defence against Marco Antonio Rubio in California.

    Golovkin, aptly nicknamed the ‘Good Boy’, has shown a healthy respect for a Mexican opponent who perhaps these days is more overcooked than well-seasoned.

    But then courtesy comes quite naturally to the ambitious Eastern European, who has been on a con­certed stateside charm offensive of late. The 32-year-old wants to be boxing’s next marquee pay-per view attraction – and brand GGG is open for business.

    Having added an impressive command of English to his ver­nacular arsenal following some intensive tuition, he now speaks a total of four languages.

    Formerly a resident of Germany, he has relocated his family full-time to the US, signed a multi–fight deal with HBO, and is eternally gregarious with his treatment of the media and boxing writers.

    Golovkin’s smile never slips as he plays this game, but his is a past pock-marked by pain and personal suffering. As a teenager he lost his two older brothers, both died dur­ing military service with the Rus­sian army, while he also mourned the sudden death of his father earlier this year.

    The Tom Hanks to Kazakhstan’s Private Ryan is his coach, Abel Sanchez. Trainer of 11 world champions, Sanchez tells the story of first seeing Golovkin pound the mitts at his Big Bear gym and im­mediately taking him to one side to scribble down his all-time top 10, with the No2 slot, behind Muham­mad Ali, deliberately vacant to emphasise how far he felt he could take him.

    And it’s so far, so good, for a man who graduated to the paid ranks with an astonishing amateur record of 395 wins, just five defeats and has never tasted the canvas in his life. Indeed to fully compre­hend the Golovkin hype, you only need crunch the numbers a little further.

    Thirty professional fights, 30 wins, 27 knockouts, 10 of them in the first two rounds, a 90 per cent knockout ratio is the highest in the history of the middleweight division and he enters the ring this weekend on a run of 16 consecutive early nights. The stats are Tyson-esque. Numbers you might expect from a beastly heavyweight like Deontay Wilder, but rare for a man of Golovkin’s build.

    However, the one set of figures that perhaps gives the doubters some ammunition is the cumula­tive ranking of the vanquished on his resume. Although he has gradu­ated to easily dispatching top-10 middleweights, the likes of recent victims Matthew Macklin and Dan­iel Geale (below) are at best solid contend­ers, and at worst, quite basic.

    Up to this point, virtually every­one he has hit has crumpled to the matt an anguished heap. We are yet to see if a ‘plan B’ exists should someone find the fortitude to stand firm and return fire.

    Rubio is unlikely to provide the step up to elite class Golovkin is destined for, but another sav­age showcase of his destructive talents will do his profile no harm. The fight is sold out and will be screened prime time by HBO and, while he has an ardent following among boxing aficionados, it is a chance for him to turn the heads of the casual observers.

    If the Golovkin buzz continues to grow there are some explosive match-ups and big paydays ahead for him. In that respect one of his greatest assets will be that he is able to drop down and operate at light middleweight, or even step up to super middleweight. At the moment he has a reputation as the most avoided man in boxing, but it will hard to prevent the ‘Good Boy’ from becoming the main man. 

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