WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is being touted as the next big thing in boxing. He is building a reputation as a fearsome puncher with good boxing skills and a great amateur pedigree. Unlike many in the boxing world, I am not yet sold on Golovkin. Is he fun to watch? Yes, I enjoy watching him but at the same time I must live in reality and therefore what he has done thus far is pretty unremarkable, to me at least. He won the WBA crown in 2010 against a guy named Nilson Tapia, then defended that against Kassim Ouma, and did not look as fearsome as many described. So for three years he has been WBA champ and has fought relatively unknown fighters, aside from Ouma, and 154lb fighters like Nobuhiro Ishida. More recently he beat up and stopped Curtis Stevens, who is again more of a 154lb fighter who himself has done relatively little but is known as a puncher. Sure, I enjoyed seeing Stevens look of surprise when he got knocked down against Golovkin, but in perspective Stevens is no Marvin Hagler.
Matthew Macklin is probably the only legitimate 160lb fighter on Golovkins record, sure, it was a devastating punch to the ribs. Macklin is most definetly a solid guy who challenged Sergio Martinez for the middleweight championship and lost in a brave effort. So we can give him that, he stopped Macklin on a body shot when Martinez struggled and even got knocked down by Macklin. But why do Golovkins promoters keep putting him in against guys that seemingly have no hope? No he is scheduled to fight Osumanu Adama, yea, a tough guy from Ghana that has only one legitimate guy on his ledger, Daniel Geale. Why not Sergio Martinez? Why not Chavez Jr.? Why this guy?
Fact is, Golovkin is fun to watch, nobody seems to disagree on that, but is he something special? Well, that remains to be seen for me.
Fact is, Golovkin is fun to watch, nobody seems to disagree on that, but is he something special? Well, that remains to be seen for me.
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