GOLOVKIN MUST LIVE IN PRESENT AND LOOK TO FUTURE, NOT BE COMPARED TO PAST LEGENDS JUST YET

Published

11 years ago

July 21, 2014

For someone with so relatively limited a professional resume, WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin finds himself in a curious position.

The 32-year-old Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs), who defends his alphabet titles against former IBF/WBA 160-pound champ Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KOs) in the HBO-televised main event Saturday night in Madison Square Garden’s big arena, just might be, as a growing number of his devotees are claiming, the most pulverizing knockout artist in boxing today. His KO rate (a tick below 90 percent) is the highest ever for any middleweight champion. Pretty impressive stuff, right? But probably the most notable entry on “Triple G’s” list of victims is Curtis Stevens, whom the Kazakhstan-born, Germany-based fighter pounded so thoroughly that Stevens’ corner did not let their guy come out for the ninth round of a Nov. 2, 2013, title bout in Madison Square Garden Theater.

Stevens is a good fighter and a pretty tough customer, but is there anyone who would dare to compare him to, say, Sugar Ray Robinson? Bernard Hopkins? How about Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard?

The career of any fighter is gauged in large part by the quality of opponents he has faced and defeated. But some of the legendary names listed above already have been floated by Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, as measuring sticks against whom Golovkin eventually will be compared, if he hasn’t reached that rarified level of accomplishment already. It is a giant leap of faith, but then again, there was a high school junior from Akron, Ohio – I believe his name is LeBron James – who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated – years ago. That kid – “The Chosen One,” SI proclaimed — was said to have the potential to become the best basketball player of all time. It seemed preposterous to lay that kind of burden on a 17–year-old, but, well, look at where King James is now.

Sanchez, in an interview with RingTV.com’s Lem Satterfield, had the temerity to suggest that Golovkin was currently behind Robinson and Hopkins in the highly exclusive pantheon of middleweight greats, but was moving up fast on the outside. Then, in a teleconference with the international media last Thursday, he added Hagler and Leonard to the star-studded items from Column A. Who knows? If Golovkin blows away Geale swiftly and emphatically, Sanchez might be inclined to expand Column A – that would be a lineup of historically revered middleweights that Golovkin could be paired against only in the realm of imagination – to include Harry Greb, Carlos Monzon and Jake LaMotta. Hey, it doesn’t cost anything to speculate.

“Ranking them behind those two people (Robinson and Hopkins), I was hoping that we could get the kind of fights that would showcase (Golovkin) in a way that would prove that statement that I made,” Sanchez explained of the more significant purpose of the matchup with Geale. “He definitely needs to fight Daniel in the manner that he’s fought some of his past opponents. Daniel has the ability to go 12 rounds. That is going to be the big issue for Gennady – to see if he can control and dominate a man who’s used to going 12 rounds and who throws as many punches as Daniel.”

No disrespect to Geale, whose only previous ring appearance in the United States saw him relinquish his IBF title to England’s Darren Barker on a mildly controversial split decision on Aug. 17, 2013, at the Revel Resort in Atlantic City, but the Aussie veteran doesn’t provide so stern a test that his conquest would serve to zoom Golovkin much further up the ladder to middleweight nirvana that Sanchez sees as his destiny. But there is a very real, and very intriguing, alternative for Golovkin to the dreamy mindscape of Column A. Let’s call it Column B, the names listed therein all belonging to active fighters who could offer “Triple G” the sort of matchups that actually would further advance his claim to indisputable greatness.

Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, notes that Golovkin is already well on the way to becoming a household name among even fringe fight fans. He will be appearing in his third bout at Madison Square Garden, but his first in the lower bowl of the big room, which is scaled for 11,000 seats or so with a near-capacity turnout expected. Should Golovkin extend his knockout streak to 17 against so credible an opponent as Geale, it could vault him to the fringes of real superstardom, a status which is partly based in boxing talent and partly in marketability. He’s not that far removed from such a designation already, having been a finalist for 2013 Fighter of the Year from the Boxing Writers Association of America (the winner was Floyd Mayweather Jr.) and being voted last year’s top fighter by readers of The Ring magazine.

Loeffler’s future wish list for Golovkin, whose power-punching has elevated his visibility in much the same way that heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder’s has (Wilder has won all 31 of his pro bouts inside the distance) and Mike Tyson’s did a generation earlier, is topped by newly crowned WBC middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs), the future Hall of Famer who became the first Puerto Rican to win world championships in four weight classes when he forced Argentina’s Sergio Martinez to quit on his stool after 10 rounds on June 7 in Madison Square Garden. A unification showdown with Cotto, who has fought 11 times in all in New York City with nine of those bouts coming in the Garden, would be one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts that conceivably could be made at this time.

“My job as Gennady’s promoter is to look forward and to plan ahead,” Loeffler said. “Nobody on our team is underestimating what Daniel Geale brings to the table. He’s clearly the biggest challenge (to this point) for Gennady. With that being said, if everything goes the right way on July 26, it’s my job to strategize ahead for him. Certainly with Cotto and his big win against Sergio Martinez to win the WBC middleweight championship, he moves to the top of our list.

“But Gennady’s up for fighting anybody. If it’s a compelling fight, a pay-per-view fight, he would move up (to super middleweight) or he would move down (to junior middleweight). Right now he’s focused on Daniel Geale. The priority, if he beats Daniel, would be to start unifying the middleweight titles.”

At 32, Golovkin, a silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, does not have the luxury that higher schooler LeBron James had of a sun-kissed future that stretched to some far-off horizon. Golovkin is one of the fight game’s more delectable flavors of the moment, a solid foundation upon which to build, and he is in a deep weight class that offers lucrative options as well as those at 154 and 168 pounds. In addition to Cotto, mix ’n’ match possibilities include IBF middleweight champ Sam Solimon (44-11, 18 KOs), WBO champ Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs), WBA super middleweight champ Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs), IBF super middle champ Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs), WBA junior middle champ Canelo Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and maybe even WBC/WBA welterweight ruler Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs), should he come up to meet Golovkin at some mutually acceptable catchweight. Even super middle contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-1, 32 KOs), who was in negotiations to fight Golovin until the deal fell apart, could work his way back into the mix.

Big fights, however, aren’t always that easy to put together, especially in today’s landscape of dueling promoters and pay-cable entities, which could have the effect of pushing some of the possibilities for Golovkin in Column B as far off to the side as those in Column A.

Still, it’s fun to daydream. Is Golovkin really as devastating a puncher as he appears to be? Or is this son of a Russian father and Korean mother mostly a product of manufactured hype, as is the case with doubting-Thomas types who are hesitant to climb aboard the Deontay Wilder bandwagon? Golovkin stands at a crossroads of sorts, where one path leads to certification as a fighter for the ages and another to possible exposure as something far less.

Asked about the source of his formidable power, Golovkin answered, “It is natural. My strength, my speed, my timing. It’s all that together.”

So we will all check in on Saturday, for any additional hints as to what makes Gennady Golovkin tick. If Geale’s trainer, Graham Shaw, is correct – he said that “if Daniel fights his absolute best, believe it beats Gennady’s best” – the legend of “Triple G” could be quashed in its relative infancy. Anything less than an exclamation-point victory also could have a deleterious effect, and maybe more so if the lead-in HBO bout, a WBC heavyweight eliminator between Bryant Jennings (18-0, 10 KOs) and Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12 KOs), proves to be a tough act to follow.

Sanchez thinks he knows how it all turns out.

“All those little attributes, all those pluses that Gennady has in my comparing him to Hagler and to Leonard and to Sugar Ray Robinson, those things will all be seen in time as he fights great fighters like he’s fighting on July 26,” he predicted with the confidence of someone who has looked into the future and been pleased by what he saw.

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Bernard Fernandez

Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

Published

1 day ago

January 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Skylar-Lacy-Blocked-for-Lamar-Jackson-Before-Making-his-Mark-in-Boxing

Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

Published

3 days ago

January 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Mizuki-Hiruta-Dominates-in-her-U.S.-Debut-and-Trinidad-Wins-Too-at-Commerce

Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Published

5 days ago

January 16, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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