Gennady Golovkin Has Officially Arrived

Published

12 years ago

July 1, 2013

Nothing excites boxing fans like a puncher, I mean a genuine life-taker. When a fighter is a knockout artist, no fighter or style looks more unbeatable. Think of some of the big fights over the last 50 years where a big puncher was involved, nine out of 10 times the puncher was favored over the smooth and skilled boxer. Sonny Liston was favored over both Floyd Patterson and Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in both fights against them. Joe Frazier was favored over Ali (although Ali’s inactivity played a role in that one) the first time they fought and so was George Foreman over Ali the only time they met. Thomas Hearns was a slight favorite with most of the Vegas books over Sugar Ray Leonard in their first fight. Felix Trinidad was a knockout artist and was a 2.5 to 1 favorite over Bernard Hopkins and despite getting knocked out by Evander Holyfield in their first fight, Mike Tyson was favored over Evander before their rematch.

Enter Gennady Golovkin 27-0 (24), who just scored his most impressive win on Saturday night. Golovkin knocked out Matthew Mackin 29-5 (20) in the third round with a short left hook to the body. One punch knockouts to the body are the rarest knockout you’ll see in boxing. Just a little over a year ago Macklin knocked down the consensus best middleweight in the world, Sergio Martinez, in the seventh round before not being able to come out for the 12th and final round of their title bout. Based on Macklin, which is not always an accurate read, Golovkin would be the betting favorite over Martinez if they meet in the near feature.

As to Golovkin the fighter, he’s the real deal and an authentically terrific natural puncher with both hands. And the man who is best qualified to speak to Gennady’s power, Matthew Macklin, says every punch he touches you with hurts, regardless whether it’s a jab, cross, hook or uppercut. If those weapons don’t make him dangerous, he is one of the rare punchers who jabs his way in and sets up his power. In other words Golovkin can be counted on to deliver his power every time out, something that makes him really dangerous. Although Mike Tyson used his jab occasionally, he couldn’t jab from the outside the way Golovkin has shown that he’s capable of doing. However, what made Tyson so dangerous was the fact that he never once met an opponent who didn’t have to stand up to his Sunday best, win or lose. And if you’ve followed boxing for awhile you know that cannot be said about many past previous knockout punchers, the likes of say, Earnie Shavers and Julian Jackson. Sure, they delivered their power an overwhelming majority of the time, but they had nights where they managed to never quite land their bread and butter hook or right hand. Whereas Golovkin is more Tyson-esque in that to beat him you’re going to have to withstand his best artillery and then have enough left to come back with.

There are two things that he has shown to date in which he surpasses Tyson, at least based on the opposition he’s fought throughout his first 27 bouts. One of them is he seems to maintain and carry his power the whole night. Mike was faster out of the gate but after three rounds slowed and didn’t carry one punch power the way Golovkin has shown. The other thing that you can’t help but notice about Gennady is, he doesn’t get discouraged or deterred. Nothing seems to bother him or make him do what he doesn’t want to. Tyson had lulls during some of his fights even during the Rooney days where he looked a little discouraged and was trying to figure his way through the fight before coming alive and regaining his confidence after landing a big shot and forcing his opponent to back off.

One also has to be impressed to date with the way Gennady has shown that he can cut off the ring and force his opponents to basically fight him off more than fight him. With the threat of Golovkin’s power and the somewhat sustained pressure he was putting on Macklin, Matthew was forced to rush his offense. He was so much more intent on putting something in Golovkin’s face to occupy and disrupt him, that unless he walked into something, he had no chance to hurt Gennady or make him pay for bringing the fight. When a fighter is faced with the thought that he has to throw in volume to keep himself above water, the way Macklin was versus Golovkin, it drains them both mentally and physically. And since Macklin was being forced to hurry his offense with the hopes of impeding Golovkin just enough so he could get away enough so he could try and figure something out, Golovkin was doing whatever he wanted and basically as he said after the fight had his way and an easy time of it.

Right now it looks as if the sport of professional boxing has found a fighter it can take an interest in and look forward to watching fight. Knockout punchers aren’t created or molded, they’re born. Golovkin has a deep amateur background and you can see that he’s improving and becoming more dangerous every time he fights. His confidence seems to be escalating as well and you can sense that he believes it’s just a matter of time before he tracks his man down and nails him with precisely placed power shots to the head and body regardless of what strategy they employ against him. He doesn’t rush in trying to create openings, he goes about it in a more methodical and measured fashion.

As far as his vulnerabilities, he’s not the fastest fighter of hand or foot that you’ll see, but he seems to cover a lot of ground in the ring quickly when he’s fighting as the predator, and when he lands with one good clean shot he’s shown that he can put a successive combination together of finishing punches. Also, he’s shown that he’s a little easier to hold off if you circle and move to his right as Kassim Ouma did a couple years ago. Then again he’s improved a lot since then and may not be quite as befuddled by that type of movement now.

There’s a lot to be said about Golovkin in a positive vein, but at the same time there’s a lot to find out. He looks really good and may be around for a while, but we need to see how he reacts when things don’t go his way or is confronted by a tough fighter who can stand up to his punch. And yes that’ll happen, it always does. There are a ton of interesting fights for him to be made and it looks as if he’s willing to take them. All punchers think they’re invincible and believe their punch will always carry the day until it doesn’t. He’s a marquee attraction and that’s what boxing needs. However, he’s not a particularly big middleweight and shouldn’t be challenging the top super-middleweights yet.

And please HBO, don’t listen to whoever said during the broadcast (Max Kellerman or Jim Lampley) to try and make Andre Ward versus Golovkin. Can you imagine wanting to destroy one of your marquee fighters just so you can look like “a smart boxing guy?” Golovkin is something to see but you couldn’t invent a fighter more perfect for Ward. And Ward would beat him in a way that would showcase all of Golovkin’s liabilities without revealing any of his assets.

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Frank Lotierzo

Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

Published

1 day ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Published

2 days ago

May 3, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.

In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.

Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.

Semi-wind-up

In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.

A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.

The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.

Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.

Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.

Heavyweights

In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.

Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.

The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.

In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions

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