Gennady Golovkin: Continues to Show he is the Real Deal – Boxing News
By Lou Eisen
It took Gennady Golovkin, 31-0, 28 KO’s only 28 punches in two rounds to dispose of Mexico’s Marco Antonio Rubio, 59-7-1, 51 KO’s. Golovkin is without any doubt the best middleweight fighter in his division. Rubio landed a mere 13 ineffective shots of his own on Golovkin. Rubio claimed he lost track of the count. He then said he was up in time, but the count was fast. There was nothing wrong with the count. Rubio got caught with a terrific shot by the sport’s top puncher and that was it.
There is no shame in losing to Golovkin. The fact that Rubio lost track of referee Jack Reiss’ count is indication enough of just how hard the champion can punch. Reiss is one of the finest referees working today in pro boxing. Rubio was obviously concussed when he went down. Looking back, years from now, Rubio will be happy he failed to beat the count. Why? Well, beating the count would only have served to delay the inevitable. Rubio entered the ring with an eight pound weight advantage which, ultimately, made no difference whatsoever to the outcome of the fight. He entered the ring with the WBC interim middleweight title as well, which he promptly lost to Golovkin when he was knocked out. Rubio would not have been awarded any of Golovkin’s belts even if he had by some miracle won, because he was overweight at the weigh-in, the day before the fight. Rubio was fined $100,000 for his infraction of the rules. With yet another impressive knockout triumph on his ledger, Golovkin easily retained his WBA/IBO middleweight world titles.
Golovkin rocked Rubio in the very first round of the fight with a series of left uppercuts followed up immediately by a bevy of quick, hard right hooks. Golovkin’s speed against Rubio was as impressive as his otherworldly punching power. Golovkin is able to get phenomenal leverage on all of his power shots, which is what makes him the most lethal fighter in the sport today. His left hooks to the body bent Rubio in half and helped to break him down in a hurry. Golovkin buried his deadly Mexican left hook to the liver in Rubio’s side, all the way up to his elbow time and time again. No middleweight in the world can survive a series of shots with that much power behind them.
It was evident from the beginning that Golovkin had no trouble whatsoever landing on Rubio at will. In fact, one had to wonder if Rubio understood that the idea of the sport is to hit without getting tagged in return. Golovkin staggered and surprised Rubio with every big shot he landed. Much to the shock of the largely pro-Golovkin crowd, Rubio stood his ground and fired back immediately, in the first round, although his punches had little to no effect on Golovkin.
Rubio would have been wiser to fight Golovkin from the perimeter of the ring rather than to engage him head on, which is exactly what he did. Both men had an identical reach of 70 inches while Golovkin actually stood one half inch taller than the 5’10” Rubio. Golovkin’s height is rather deceptive at times because he is taller than he appears to be. There are many theories on how to beat Golovkin, all of them wrong. While there is some truth in the statement that Golovkin has yet to face an elite middleweight fighter, his talent is truly undeniable.
Golovkin called out Miguel Cotto after the fight and should have no problem breaking down Cotto when and if they meet. Cotto holds his hands very high, thus leaving his body completely exposed and highly susceptible to Golovkin’s spectacular body attack. Cotto has definitely improved under the tutelage of Freddie Roach. However, not even the great Roach can undo the years of abuse Cotto’s body has taken inside the squared circle.
Cotto looked really good against the injured Sergio Martinez. Fighting Golovkin is another matter entirely. Cotto likes to come straight at his foes, cutting off the ring on them while trapping them along the ropes in order to let his hands go. Unfortunately for Cotto that is exactly what Golovkin likes to do when he fights. If Cotto were to pursue that tactic, he would be playing right into Golovkin’s powerful hands.
Golovkin has shown many times now that any fighter that challenges him head on will suffer a brutal defeat. Cotto would be wiser to fight Golovkin at a distance, coming in occasionally behind his left jab while constantly circling away from his Russian rival’s damaging left hook. Cotto, if he is to have even a remote chance against Golovkin, must also wear down his body because “Triple G” has superb head movement and is very hard to nail with a flush head shot. Super middleweight world champion Andre Ward is mentioned as a possible future ring rival for Golovkin. That fight is unlikely to happen for now as neither man has any plans to change his current weight class.
Ward will not come down to middleweight to weaken himself and Golovkin wants to stay at middleweight for the foreseeable future or, at least, until he unifies all of the middleweight titles. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is sometimes mentioned as a possible foe for Golovkin but that is unlikely because Chavez is already fighting at light-heavyweight, which is just too big of a jump in weight for Golovkin at this time.
Peter Quillen is a good middleweight but vastly overrated and has yet to face anyone of equal or superior talent in the ring. A healthy Sergio Martinez would be a great opponent for Golovkin. A victory over Martinez would almost be like a symbolic passing of the torch. Martinez has the skill and unorthodox style to trouble Golovkin. Mind you, it is unlikely that Martinez can properly heal his perennially gimpy right ankle. Martinez is a southpaw and a southpaw with a bad lead foot would only be at the mercy of Golovkin.
Jermain Taylor just won the worthless IBF middleweight title, with an easy win over Australian Sam Soliman. Taylor should never be allowed to face Golovkin as there is a real chance of such a fight ending fatally for Taylor. Daniel Jacobs has made a remarkable comeback from cancer but is still nowhere near being in the same league as Golovkin. The only fighter today in the middleweight division who may stand a chance of beating Golovkin on points is Britain’s Martin Murray. He is tall with a great jab. He beat Martinez handily for his WBC middleweight title belt but lost the decision because the bout was held in Argentina, where Martinez was born and raised.
Another fight ends in another impressive victory for Triple G. Golovkin fills arenas, which makes him the middleweight division’s biggest draw. Get used to him folks, he is going to be at the top of the storied middleweight division for a very long time.