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

Najee Lopez Steps up in Class and Wins Impressively at Plant City

Published

2 hours ago

January 24, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Garry Jonas’ ProBox series returned to its regular home in Plant City, Florida, tonight with a card topped by a 10-round light heavyweight match between fast-rising Najee Lopez and former world title challenger Lenin Castillo. This was considered a step-up fight for the 25-year-old Lopez, an Atlanta-born-fighter of Puerto Rican heritage. Although the 36-year-old Castillo had lost two of his least three heading in, he had gone the distance with Dimitry Bivol and Marcus Browne and been stopped only once (by Callum Smith).

Lopez landed the cleaner punches throughout. Although Castillo seemed unfazed during the first half of the fight, he returned to his corner at the end of round five exhibiting signs of a fractured jaw.

In the next round, Lopez cornered him against the ropes and knocked him through the ropes with a left-right combination. Referee Emil Lombardo could have stopped the fight right there, but he allowed the courageous Castillo to carry on for a bit longer, finally stopping the fight as Castillo’s corner and a Florida commissioner were signaling that it was over.

The official time was 2:36 of round six. Bigger fights await the talented Lopez who improved to 13-0 with his tenth win inside the distance. Castillo declined to 25-7-1.

Co-Feature

In a stinker of a heavyweight fight, Stanley Wright, a paunchy, 34-year-old North Carolina journeyman, scored a big upset with a 10-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Jeremiah Milton.

Wright carried 280 pounds, 100 pounds more than in his pro debut 11 years ago. Although he was undefeated (13-0, 11 KOs), he had never defeated an opponent with a winning record and his last four opponents were a miserable 19-48-2. Moreover, he took the fight on short notice.

What Wright had going for him was fast hands and, in the opening round, he put Milton on the canvas with a straight right hand. From that point, Milton fought tentatively and Wright, looking fatigued as early as the fourth round, fought only in spurts. It seemed doubtful that he could last the distance, but Milton, the subject of a 2021 profile in these pages, was wary of Wright’s power and unable to capitalize. “It’s almost as if Milton is afraid to win,” said ringside commentator Chris Algieri during the ninth stanza when the bout had devolved into a hugfest.

The judges had it 96-93 and 97-92 twice for the victorious Wright who boosted his record to 14-0 without improving his stature.

Also

In the TV opener, a 10-round contest in the junior middleweight division, Najee Lopez stablemate Darrelle Valsaint (12-0, 10 KOs) scored his career-best win with a second-round knockout of 35-year-old Dutch globetrotter Stephen Danyo (23-7-3).

A native Floridian of Haitian descent, the 22-year-old Valsaint was making his eighth start in Plant City. He rocked Danyo with a chopping right hand high on the temple and then, as Danyo slumped forward, delivered the coup-de-gras, a short left uppercut. The official time was 2:17 of round two.

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Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue is Headed to Vegas after KOing Ye Joon Kim

Published

12 hours ago

January 24, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Japan’s magnificent Naoya Inoue, appearing in his twenty-fourth title fight, scored his 11^th straight stoppage tonight while successfully defending his unified super bantamweight title, advancing his record to 29-0 (26 KOs) at the expense of Ye Joon Kim. The match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena came to an end at the 2:25 mark of round four when U.S. referee Mark Nelson tolled “10” over the brave but overmatched Korean.

Kim, raised in a Seoul orphanage, had a few good moments, but the “Monster” found his rhythm in the third round, leaving Kim with a purplish welt under his left eye. In the next frame, he brought the match to a conclusion, staggering the Korean with a left and then finishing matters with an overhand right that put Kim on the seat of his pants, dazed and wincing in pain.

Kim, who brought a 21-2-2 record, took the fight on 10 days’ notice, replacing Australia’s Sam Goodman who suffered an eye injury in sparring that never healed properly, forcing him to withdraw twice.

Co-promoter Bob Arum, who was in the building, announced that Inoue’s next fight would happen in Las Vegas in the Spring. Speculation centers on Mexico City’s Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) who is ranked #1 by the WBC. However, there’s also speculation that the 31-year-old Inoue may move up to featherweight and seek to win a title in a fifth weight class, in which case a potential opponent is the winner of the Feb. 2 match between Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton. In “olden days,” this notion would have been dismissed as the Japanese superstar and Figueroa/Fulton have different promoters, but the arrival of Turki Alalshikh, the sport’s Daddy Warbucks, has changed the dynamic. Tonight, Naoya Inoue made his first start as a brand ambassador for Riyadh Season.

Simmering on the backburner is a megafight with countryman Junto Nakatani, an easy fight to make as Arum has ties to both. However, the powers-that-be would prefer more “marination.”

Inoue has appeared twice in Las Vegas, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October of 2020 at the MGM Bubble and a third-round stoppage of Michael Dasmarinas at the Virgin Hotels in June of 2021.

Semi-wind-up

In a 12-round bout for a regional welterweight title, Jin Sasaki improved to 19-1-1 (17) with a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (29-15-3). The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.

Also

In a bout in which both contestants were on the canvas, Toshiki Shimomachi (20-1-3) edged out Misaki Hirano (11-2), winning a majority decision. A 28-year-old Osaka southpaw with a fan-friendly style, the lanky Shimomachi, unbeaten in his last 22 starts, competes as a super bantamweight. A match with Inoue may be in his future.

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Eric Priest Wins Handily on Thursday’s Golden Boy card at the Commerce Casino

Published

18 hours ago

January 24, 2025

David A. Avila

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Model turned fighter Eric Priest jabbed and jolted his way into the super middleweight rankings with a shutout decision win over veteran Tyler Howard on Thursday.

In his first main event Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) proved ready for contender status by defusing every attack Tennessee’s Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) could muster at Commerce Casino, the second fight in six days at the LA County venue.

All ticket monies collected on the Folden Boy Promotions card were contributed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation as they battle wildfires sprouting all over Los Angeles County due to high winds.

Priest, 26, had never fought anyone near Howard’s caliber but used a ramrod jab to keep the veteran off-balance and unable to muster a forceful counter-attack. Round after round the Korean-American fighter pumped left jabs while circling his opposition.

Though hit with power shots, none seemed to faze Howard but his own blows were unable to put a dent in Priest. After 10 rounds of the same repetitive action all three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Priest who now wins a regional super middleweight title.

Priest also joins the top 15 rankings of the WBA organization.

In a fight between evenly matched middleweights, Jordan Panthen (11-0, 9 KOs) remained undefeated after 10 rounds versus DeAundre Pettus (12-4, 7 KOs). Though equally skilled, Panthen simply out-worked the South Caroliina fighter to win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored.

Other Bouts

Grant Flores (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Costa Rica’s David Lobo Ramirez (17-4, 12 KOs) with two successive right uppercuts at 2:59 of the second round of the super welterweight fight.

Cayden Griffith (3-0, 3 KOs) used a left hook to the body to stop Mark Misiura at 1:43 of the second round in a super welterweight bout.

Jordan Fuentes (3-0) floored Brandon Badillo (0-3-1) in the third round and proceeded to win by decision after four rounds in a super bantamweight fight.

A super featherweight match saw Leonardo Sanchez (8-0) win by decision over Joseph Cruz Brown (10-12) after six rounds.

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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