Big Drama Show: An Alternate Reality – Gennady “GGG” Golovkin Vs Serhiy Derevyachenko

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By Iberedem “El Magico” Ekure

The Ukranian pugilist enjoys massive support from the Ukranian diaspora in the New York area, often sporting blue and yellow/gold trunks paying homage to the flag colors of his homeland. He had an extensive amateur career with over 400 fights and represented Ukraine at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. His impressive amateur showing and in-ring skill have catapulted him to the upper echelon of his division despite having under 15 professional fights under his belt. His next fight is for a vacant title…Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

Put this information in a machine learning algorithm to identify the fighter and you likely get Vasyl Lomachenko as the answer with the expectation is that he outclasses his opponent and wins the title except it’s not Lomachenko, it’s Derevyanchenko; it’s not 2014, it’s 2019; it’s not featherweight, it’s middleweight; it’s not Orlando Salido who was stripped of the WBO title because he couldn’t make weight, it’s Canelo who couldn’t make a title defense within the IBF’s stipulated timeframe; most importantly, it’s not Gary Russell, JR. who stands in the way of the Ukranian, it’s the Kazakh, Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin (“GGG”) who has promised to bring “Big Drama Show” to Madison Square Garden on the 5th of October 2019.

Serhiy Derevyachenko is the underdog in this fight but according to the press conferences, his opponent and the bookies (The odds are you put a dollar on him winning and you get three back plus your original dollar if he pulls off the victory), the man is a live dog. To put this in perspective, these are the best odds in the past 5 years for a “GGG” opponent not named Canelo Alvarez; Yes, even better than Daniel Jacobs who had 1/5 odds of victory facing Golovkin. Serhiy’s trainer Andre Rozier laid out the blueprint, explaining how his fighter would back GGG up, work angles and force him to fight off his back foot. Golovkin put on the hat of fight promoter, perhaps preparing for a post-fight career, going as far as professing his fear of Derevyachenko. Fans are starting to seriously entertain the possibility that GGG has bitten off a little more than he can chew with this matchup at this time; A younger, faster and more powerful “GGG”, they had confidence would walk down every opponent, taunting them to hit him before delivering devastating knockouts but this version perhaps has a chink in his armor.

On the night of October 5th, perhaps the Ukrainian walks out as IBF champion. Two years ago, this fight would generate just one question “How many rounds before GGG knocks him out?” That’s how much things have changed for Golovkin. He’s gone from the top pound for pound fighter in the world, the invincible knockout artist who sent shivers down the spine of opponents, to a character in this reality where we are free to express misgivings about his ability.

As alluring as this narrative and the prospect of a passing of the torch might be, I invite you to consider an alternate reality: One where Derevyachenko, impressive as he is, is not quite ready for the challenge of “GGG”. In his last two fights, Derevyachenko has looked out of breath by the middle rounds. Daniel Jacobs took advantage of this, winning the back end of the fight to secure victory so did Jack Culcay who dished out a lot of punishment in the back end of that fight but ultimately came up short on the scorecards. Serhiy isn’t the most accurate puncher; for the statistically inclined, he has struggled to break 25% connection rate whereas the top tier middleweights he wants to be fighting are consistently above 30%.

Serhiy’s chin is questionable: Jacobs knocked him down in the first round of their fight and his legs looked like they could betray him when Culcay had him in trouble in the 10th and 11th rounds of their bout. Against the backdrop of an opponent who is a knockout artist, a master of wearing his opponents down, constantly stalking, cutting off the ring and picking his shots, the big drama show I envision in this reality is the one we got used to from 2010 to 2017: Golovkin, a champion able to go through his opponents as easily as a hot knife through butter.

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