Golovkin vs Szeremeta

[Master]

Gennady Golovkin is back in the ring this week with the Kazakh superstar looking to shake off some ring rust after more than a year out due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The world middleweight champion defends his IBF title against Kamil Szeremeta, with the Polish fighter taking an enormous step up in quality to challenge the former pound-for-pound superstar.

Golovkin, now 38, and looking to rebound from a close and disputed points victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, will be eager to expend as little energy as possible ahead of another big fight in 2021, with hope of a trilogy against Canelo Alvarez, should the Mexican superstar prevail against Callum Smith a day after his bout - in what is a massive week for the future of the middleweight and super-middleweight divisions.

The appetite for that third fight is not as high as it once was, with some claiming Smith is a tougher, or at least more interesting opponent for Canelo, but there are more big fights out there for Golovkin should his rival resist the temptation to give the former Olympic silver medallist a chance at redemption after his disputed draw and then win from their two fights in 2017 and 2018.



WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, Billy Joe Saunders, who is currently the WBO champion at 168 pounds, Jermall Charlo, IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant and even Smith off a potential loss against Canelo, could all be discussed as potential opponents in 2021.

Golovkin v Szeremeta is on Friday, 18 December and will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Florida.

Gennadiy Golovkin vs Kamil Szeremeta – for the IBF middleweight title

Ali Akhmedov vs Carlos Gongora – for the IBO Super-Middleweight title

Hyun Mi Choi vs Calista Silgado – for the WBA Super-Featherweight title

John Ryder vs Michael Guy – Super-Middleweight bout

Reshat Mati vs. Dennis Okoth – Welterweight bout

Jalen Walker vs. Rafael Reyes – Featherweight bout

We expect GGG to win well and look good against an opponent in deep water after no test or bridge to this elite level. There is no opponent remotely close to the quality of Golovkin, even at this stage of his career, and the year out for the Kazakh off a punishing 12 rounds with Derevyanchenko will have done him the world of good. We’re going for GGG to stop Szeremeta in the fourth round and move on to perhaps the final ‘peak’ year left in his career in 2021 at the highest level.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/gol...163909970.html

[imp]

Still no Charlo.

Still no BJS.

Still no Andrade.

GGG will not fight any slick boxers or move up in weight and challenge himself.

[X]

I am a big Golovkin fan. So avoided on the way up, so unlucky that no big defining fights happened until he was past his best, so robbed by the judges against Clenelo. Such a good fighter, so many dramatic knockouts.

Most definitely on a decline now though. Showed some weakness to the body in his last fight. Hope he gets some good paydays before he embarrasses himself.

[powerpuncher]

I think that GGG is still a top fighter (although I thought he lost to Derevyanchenko), but I’m not sure if we see him win any defining fights at this point. I’m assuming that he’s still waiting around hoping for a third Canelo fight, but I doubt he gets it at this point. I would be surprised if he fights Charlo or Andrade at this point.

Basically, I think that he could still compete at the top level, but he has dropped off enough that I’m not confident he beats the top fighters at middleweight anymore. Because of that, I think he avoids them unless it’s a huge money fight with Canelo.

[Memphis]

Yeah Golovkin was and still is a top operator, capable still of mixing it with the best whilst showing clear signs of slipping. Murderous puncher without the frailty that likes to follow a banger. The fucker was bomb proof. It's a shame those peak years weren't punctuated with something a bit better than Lemieux, Macklin, Murray. No disrespect intended to them, good fighters. What's he got three fights left on his deal, two after this one? I hope he can finish his career the way he wants and on a high.

[Spicoli]

Golovkin deserves better than these obscure steamroller matches. It's an after thought. Or maybe they're just waiting for him to lose quietly for the least pay out. Always a must watch but considering how Dazn is matching some of it's best 160 talent these days it's a bit forgettable.

[Master]

Gennadiy Golovkin’s omnipresent grin was nowhere to be seen. When you are a fighter and you haven’t fought in 14 months, it’s nothing to smile about.

Golovkin leaned back in his seat, dutifully answering questions about his fight on Friday (7 p.m. ET, DAZN) for the IBF middleweight title against Kamil Szeremeta. But though he was physically present, his mind was miles away.

He chuckled a bit and said that yes, he’d provide “a big drama show.” It was the line he gave once following yet another knockout in the ring following a title defense on HBO. Then, it was filled with humor and brightness and it helped American fight fans to fall in love with him.

Golovkin, 38, seems in a much different place as he prepares for his only fight of 2020. Perhaps it’s the lingering aftereffects of his two fights with Canelo Alvarez, in 2017 and 2018, which he firmly believes to this day that he won. He got a split draw and a majority decision defeat for his trouble and he hasn’t really been the same since.

Oh, he battered an overmatched Steve Rolls into submission in his first post-Alvarez fight, and then despite suffering from affects of the flu, he edged Sergiy Derevyanchenko at Madison Square Garden in a Fight of the Year-type battle, but the public perception of him has most definitely changed.

Before the Alvarez fights, he was the smiling assassin, a killer in the ring and, to use his words, a “good boy” outside of it.

Whether it’s the business of boxing that finally got to him or the bad outcomes in the Alvarez fight, it’s not the same happy-go-lucky Golovkin who vaulted to stardom in the U.S. after debuting on HBO in 2012.

In an interview with Rob Woollard of Agence France-Presse, Golovkin couldn’t contain his ire any longer. After speaking to dozens of reporters over several days in individual and group interviews, something snapped in Golovkin when he was asked about Oscar De La Hoya.

Golovkin hasn’t cared for De La Hoya since prior to his first fight with Alvarez, who at the time was promoted by De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. The ire was made worse during talks for the rematch.

De La Hoya has recently been discussing a comeback despite having retired following a 2008 bludgeoning at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. De La Hoya said he thought Golovkin would be an easy fight for him.

Under normal circumstances, it was a remark Golovkin would have laughed off. But when Woollard asked him about De La Hoya’s comment, Golovkin’s mood was such that he didn’t hold back.

“You know Oscar, you know how dirty his mouth is,” Golovkin told Woollard. “Everything involving Gennadiy Golovkin for him is a nightmare. He can say whatever. But let me put it this way: If I got an opportunity to legally kill a person in the ring, I might seize it.”

Well, OK then.

Now, certainly Golovkin wasn’t saying that he would actually try to beat De La Hoya to death, but the message was clear and unvarnished. Golovkin is done being the nice guy and taking what he perceives as the short shrift.

The question is, does that attitude spill over into the fight with Szeremeta, and he does he try to make a statement by punishing Szeremeta, or does he stick to the plan that he’s worked on for the last six months with trainer Johnathon Banks?

Banks said that despite Golovkin’s glowing knockout ratio, he’s been surprised in their two fights and this third training camp together how good his boxing skills have turned out to be.

“I loved watching Gennadiy fight as an amateur,” Banks said. “He was a really good boxer with good movement. He had a beautiful rhythm, boxing and punching. As his professional career evolved, he became known as a knockout artist, stalking his opponent and loading up for the knockout.

“Now, don’t get me wrong: I love knockouts, but there is more than one way to get one. Gennadiy worked hard on combining boxing, punching and rhythm in training camp, and he looks tremendous. Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, speed and power, that is what we worked on a lot in camp. Training Gennadiy is always an education because he has a good boxing mind.”

Golovkin’s mind appears to be going places that it hasn’t gone in a while, so it could be debated what impact that is going to have on Szeremeta.

There are two things, though, that can’t be debated: First, Golovkin is among the hardest middleweight punchers in recent times, perhaps the hardest since Julian Jackson. And second, De La Hoya would be wise to forget the comment about Golovkin being an easy fight for him. Looking elsewhere for an opponent is the only way to go for Oscar.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/a-t...181847247.html

[Master]

Gennady Golovkin can claim a slice of middleweight boxing history on Friday as he chases a record 21st successful defence against mandatory Polish challenger Kamil Szeremeta in Florida.

The 38-year-old Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 knockouts) will move one clear of Bernard Hopkins for the most ever defenses at 160 pounds if he takes care of business against the unbeaten Szeremeta.

"It's very exciting for any athlete to set a new record, whether it's the 21st defense or any other record, the fact you're setting a record is pleasing to me," said Golovkin, the International Boxing Federation middleweight champion.

The behind-closed-doors fight at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which is being broadcast on the DAZN streaming platform, is also an opportunity for Golovkin to remind a worldwide audience that he remains a force in the division.

A solid but unspectacular unanimous decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in his last fight, in October 2019, fuelled the view that the hard-hitting Golovkin is in decline.

Even Szeremeta (21-0, 5 knockouts) risked tweaking the champion's tail earlier this week by suggesting Golovkin was past his prime.

"You cannot defeat time, we know that," the 31-year-old Szeremeta said.

"We know his prime is behind him and I'm walking into my prime right now. He is still an extremely dangerous fighter and I need to remember this all the time."

Golovkin appeared nonplussed by Szeremeta's comments.

"Any athlete is entitled to his opinion," Golovkin said. "I can't say if he's confused. But the fight on Friday will show whether he's confused or not.

"Even if I'm supposedly past my prime I still feel great and I'm ready. He's up for a surprise.

"When I spar, I feel great and as strong, powerful, tenacious and I have as much stamina as I had five years ago - maybe even better."

While Golovkin admits that the prospect of a third fight against Mexican rival Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is increasingly unlikely, he is keen to fight on as his 40th birthday looms ever closer.

"I have not achieved everything I wanted to achieve," he said this week. "I first need to win on Friday and after that I will start to look into other opportunities and options in order to achieve more in my career."

But the possibility of a third fight with Canelo, who defeated Golovkin with a controversial majority decision in Las Vegas in 2018, looks remote.

"I'm tired of thinking about it," Golovkin said. "It's been over two years that we've been throwing this around. It's not my fault that this fight has not taken place. But there is a possibility this fight might never happen."

https://sports.yahoo.com/golovkin-ey...232354485.html

[palmerq]

A highly professional job by the timekeeper and the referee in the second round of the woman's fight (last fight before main event)... They rang the bell one minute early..... For a one minute round.

[palmerq]

This card is on pretty early too..
Looks like dazn are still hopeful for ggg v alvarez, ryder on the undercard here, I guess he'll be golovkin next opponent if he Beats the pole.. Well wotever I find golovkin fun to watch

[Spicoli]

Weird time for a main event. Zero idea who Szeremeta is but looking for Golovkin to shine. TGIF.

[palmerq]

They wanted it on earlier for the polish fellows, they've made the kazaks wake up early though, around 8am there

[palmerq]

Bloody ell szeremeta is well outclassed here :S

[Spicoli]

Left hook and jab accuracy is numbing his entire body, brutal.

[palmerq]

Szeremeta is totally outclassed here, golovkin is looking pretty quick with his hands, not looking like an old git yet.

Szeremeta held the euro belt for a while so I guess he's not a full on donkey