Golovkin Breezes Through Adama Defense To Retain WBA Belt

It was over the moment Gennady Golovkin threw the first punch against Osumanu Adama last night at Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo.

It was just a jab, but Adama didn’t react to the punch until after he was hit. He wasn’t able to slip the punch, or duck it, or even pull back from it.

A very, very bad sign when facing the very accurate and very heavy-handed Gennady Golovkin.

To further illustrate what kind of fight this would be, next punch Golovkin threw, a little lead left hook, caused Adama to stumble backward. Adama was down later in the first round.

So there it was. Golovkin could end this one anytime he felt like it, which turned out to be the seventh round.

Between the first and seventh rounds, Golovkin floored Adama in the sixth before deciding to call it a night in the seventh, dropping the challenger with a hard jab and battering Adama to the point that the contest was called at 1:20 of the frame.

Adama, 22-4 (16), got to the seventh by constantly jabbing and moving but Golovkin, 29-0 (26), could get within range and hit the challenger at any point, using good defense to nullify anything Adama threw back.

This was a classic activity, or stay busy fight, as Golovkin will ideally face more accomplished competition next time out.

Or will he?

Reportedly, Golovkin’s next outing in April will be against either Andy Lee, James Kirkland or Daniel Geale.

Kirkland is a light middleweight and Lee hasn’t earned a title shot, leaving Geale as the only remotely competitive name on that list.

Former IBF champion Geale would be a big step up for Golovkin and a move in the right direction on the way to a unification bout in the autumn.