World Weekend Roundup: Golovkin, Gonzalez, Sonsona Victorious

One of the top fighters in the world was back in action last night in America as WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin continued his march of destruction with a dominant performance at The Forum in Inglewood, CA.

Facing Golovkin was slick southpaw Willie Monroe, Jr, who proved to be a big-hearted competitor that gave “GGG” some problems before finally falling to the champion’s tremendous punch power.

Monroe started off the contest using movement and the jab to keep Golovkin a bit off balance and at a distance but anything that the challenger landed had zero effect of his adversary.

By the end of the first round, Golovkin had already wobbled the challenger but really began to hit the target in the second as a nice left hook sent Monroe to the canvas.

The challenger made it to his feet in time but was soon back on the floor courtesy of a crashing right hand. Monroe once again beat the count and finished the round.

The third saw Monroe begin to run less and stay in the pocket with some success as Golovkin seemed to slow things down a bit. In the fourth, Monroe had little difficulty hitting the target as Golovkin neglected defense while he pursued the challenger.

The body shots that Golovkin had been mixing in from the beginning started to have an effect by the end of the fifth as Monroe slowed down considerably and was getting hurt.

That point was reinforced early in the sixth frame as Golovkin landed a shattering series of shots that took a deflated Monroe off his feet. The New Yorker stayed down and rose just as the count reached ten, which usually will result in the fight being called off.

But referee Jack Reiss gave Monroe the benefit of the doubt before the challenger reportedly said he was finished for the night and the contest was called off at 0:45 of the sixth frame.

While Monroe came up short, did he provide the blueprint on how Golovkin could be defeated by a more experienced boxer with a bigger punch and better chin?

Perhaps, but Golovkin has yet to be truly tested and it appears that he has extra gears that he could go into if he were provided with a stiffer challenge.

Golovkin improves to 33-0 (30), notching his 20th consecutive stoppage and 14th title defense while Monroe drops to 19-2 (6).

Afterward, Golovkin expressed an interest to meet WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, who faces challenger Daniel Geale next month, or former WBC/WBA light middleweight king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

Either contest would be very interesting and provide Golovkin with his toughest challenge, at least on paper, to date.

The undercard saw a tremendous display of skill and power by WBC flyweight boss Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who moved to 43-0 (37).

Three-weight champion Gonzalez mowed down former WBC light fly ruler Edgar Sosa, 51-9 (30), at 2:37 of the second round after producing three knockdowns in that frame.

The 27 year old Nicaraguan was in control from the start, brushing aside the defense of the 35 year old Mexican challenger from the opening bell to land riveting combinations.

Next up for Gonzalez could be a rematch with WBA/WBO flyweight champ Juan Francisco Estrada, whom Gonzalez outpointed for the WBA light fly belt in 2012.

Heading south, we next land at Auditorio Miguel Barragan in San Luis Potosi, Mexico where Filipino super feather veteran Eden Sonsona, 34-6-2 (12), upset previously undefeated contender Adrian Estrella, 22-1 (20).

Estrella held massive height, reach and punch power advantages and was was the local fighter, altogether providing Sonsona with a seemingly insurmountable hurdle.

The boxers swung for the fences from the start with Estrella looking for the KO and southpaw Sonsona reacting to every punch by putting all he had into each counter.

Estrella was caught early in the initial round by one of those counters and began to box with more caution but gave away his height by crouching down to Sonsona’s level.

After landing a good right over the low guard of Sonsona, Estrella started to throw bombs again, wobbling the visitor at one point and generally looked to be in the driver’s seat by the end of the first.

But Estrella has a habit of dropping his guard when throwing punches, and Sonsona exploited that perfectly in the opening seconds of the second round to detonate a chopping right hand to the jaw that dropped the local man hard.

Estrella made it to his feet in time but was clearly in no condition to continue as the bout was called off at 0:27 of the second.

Had he won this contest, Estrella was likely in line for a world title shot but must now go back to basics and develop an effective defense to go along with his tremendous punch power if he is to regain his former contender status.

Sonsona was brought into this contest to serve as a stepping stone for Estrella and it will be interesting to see if the Manilla area man can springboard into another big fight on the strength of his performance.