Gennady ?GGG? Golovkin descends from his Big Bear Lake training headquarters to defend his WBA and IBO middleweight titles against Mexico?s Marco Antonio Rubio this weekend.
The promotion has been labeled ?Mexican Style? because Rubio is from Mexico and Golovkin professes to fight like a Mexican.
?I don?t try to win by decision,? Golovkin says. ?I fight Mexican style. I try to win by knockout.?
A sold-out arena awaits Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) and Rubio (59-6-1, 31 KOs) on Saturday at StubHub Center in Carson. Though Golovkin trains in the Southern California mountain resort, this is the first time he has fought in California. The match will be televised by HBO.
After blasting his way through 300 opponents as an amateur, and 30 professional opponents in Europe, Central America and New York, this is the fighter from Kazakhstan?s first appearance west of the Mississippi. His electrifying knockouts and always aggressive pursuits have captured the interests of fans worldwide.
?People just love the way he fights,? said HBO?s Tony Walker. ?It?s exciting. Fans love knockouts.?
During the past decade, prizefighters from Eastern Europe have been streaming into Southern California because of the area?s penchant for grooming the always exciting ?West Coast style? of pressure fighting. Several years ago, Golovkin was among those who arrived looking to establish a reputation in the competitive boxing gyms where super welterweights and middleweights such as Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. were already entrenched.
K2 Promotion?s Tom Loeffler, who heads the company that guides Golovkin, said they looked for someone to instill the popular West Coast style adapted from Mexico?s pressure form and found Abel Sanchez. The Southern California trainer previously helped develop former world champions Terry Norris, Lupe Aquino and Miguel Angel Gonzalez. All possessed that Mexican style that boxing fans prefer.
Sanchez says that you can?t depend on boxing judges to make the right decision. And his style of fighting takes the judges out of the picture.
?Gennady can box if necessary. He won 300 amateur fights boxing and an Olympic medal,? said Sanchez, who trains about a dozen other prizefighters, too. ?But I made him a Mexican assassin. He hits harder than anyone his size.?
Rubio hits hard too. The Mexican prizefighter from Torreon, a northern city where Pancho Villa?s army once roamed, has terrific power. Five of his past six fights have ended in knockout wins. At one point, he knocked out 16 consecutive opponents, and is one of the few prizefighters willing to fight anyone anywhere.
?This is an opportunity to fight the best, and clearly he is the best, so that?s why we are here,? said Rubio, who trained in Southern California for this fight. ?If I beat him, then I?m the best.?
Golovkin has an extra eagerness in his step because he?s familiar with the StubHub?s reputation for staging some of the most exciting boxing matches the last decade. Several, such as Tim Bradley vs. Ruslan Provodnikov, were deemed Fight of the Year.
?Southern California has great boxing fans,? said Golovkin. ?I fight the Mexican style.?
For the first time in the arena?s history, extra bleachers were erected to accommodate the extra-large demand for tickets said K2?s Loeffler.
