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On February 21, middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will face Martin Murray in Monte Carlo, Monaco in what promises to be a critical year for the man they call “GGG.”
The plan for Golovkin is to fight four times in 2015 and yet for the moment, he is unable to lure any major names into the ring for a pay-per-view level fight.
How can it be possible that the fastest rising-star in the sport of boxing is unable to secure a pay-per-view level fight?
Lets take a closer look at the man who many consider to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Golovkin, like a great many fighters, came from humble beginnings. His father was from Russia and worked as a coal miner while his mother was Korean and worked as an assistant in a chemical laboratory. He grew up as one of four brothers in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and then migrated with his family to Germany.
At the age of 10, Golovkin started going to a local boxing gym and training with his brothers. When asked by SaddoBoxing about what lessons boxing taught him at a young age? The 32 year-old fighter responded firmly: “Boxing has taught me discipline, this have been very important for me in my everyday life.”
His amateur career was unparalleled with success and also quite extensive. His amateur career spanned many years and his record at the end of it was an outstanding 345 victories and only 5 losses.
Finally in 2006, Gennady moved up the ranks and became a professional fighter. “It was the right thing for me to do, I fought in the Olympics and won a silver medal. I don’t have any regrets [speaking about his long amateur career], I feel good right now about where my career is,” said the fighter born in Kazakhstan.
In the last few years, Golovkin has developed a reputation similar to that of Mike Tyson in his glory years. He is considered the scariest fighter to face in the middleweight division and not because of his character, as Golovkin is quite a gentleman, but instead because he has the best knockout percentage of any middleweight contender in history at 90.32%.
Also, unlike most fighters who have a signature move, Golovkin is able to hurt his opponent with every single punch. He is precise, economical in the ring and has incurable power, which are all great recipes for success.
He is the most exiting fighter in the middleweight division and his focus after the Murray bout is solely on getting the fight against Miguel Cotto. “I am the WBC Interim Champion, Miguel Cotto is the WBC Regular Champion, hopefully we can fight and find out who is best,” says Triple G.
In case the big fight against Cotto does not come into fruition in the near future for Golovkin, what would happen to his aspirations for getting that big pay-per-view event? I wonder if he would consider moving up to 168, in the super middleweight division, and if does, what kind of power would he have against the best in that division?
Here is what Golovkin said on that subject: “My focus now is on the middleweight division and unification fights, maybe in the future against Ward or Chavez Jr.”
One important mantra that boxing managers try to abide by is to make sure their fighters avoid dangerous contenders without a large fan base. Unfortunately for Gennady, it seems everyone is afraid to face him in the ring and because he is not a big pay-per-view draw, they overlook him citing his unpopularity as an excuse.
In the meantime, Gennady Golovkin and his trainer Abel Sanchez are trying to bring back that old school Mexican style fighting into boxing. “Yes, my Coach Abel Sanchez has helped me with my speed, defense and many other things. Mexican Style is what they call it, like [Julio Cesar] Chavez Sr,” describes Triple G.
The boxing world has kept Golovkin waiting until he was almost 30 for his chance to win a world title. It is worth noting that only one of his challengers has survived longer than eight rounds and even he was gone two rounds later.
No rival has come close to beating him in those 31 professional bouts. Let’s hope the boxing world does not keep him waiting longer for his right at a pay-per-view level fight for his fan base to grow and for more people to get to know this incredible athlete who just may be the best pound-for-pound boxer in our time.
