Andre Ward wanted a tuneup fight. Canelo Alvarez says he’s not yet a middleweight. Miguel Cotto had zero interest. Floyd Mayweather Sr. says he’s way too big for his son. Carl Froch is retiring. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is imploding.
And merrily, Gennady Golovkin just fights on, scoring brutal knockouts each time out and adding fans by the day.
On Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Golovkin will defend his middleweight belts against virtual unknown Willie Monroe Jr. in the main event of an HBO broadcast.
Golovkin has run roughshod over the competition, such as it has been, since bursting onto the scene with a highly impressive victory over Grzegorz Proksa on Sept. 1, 2012. He’s won all nine of his fights since then by stoppage and is now 32-0 with 29 knockouts as a pro.
He’d be widely acclaimed as one of the world’s great fighters, except it’s kind of hard to judge him because he’s never stood across the ring from another A-level opponent.
He’d get that with Ward. Or Alvarez. Or Cotto. Or one of any of a handful of fighters, none of whom seems too interested in getting into the ring with him.
View gallery .
Gennady Golovkin has 29 KOs in 32 pro bouts. (AP) Eventually they will, of course, when the reward (i.e., the paycheck) catches up with the risk.
Until then, though, Golovkin has to content himself and his fan base by fighting the best of the rest, none of whom truly gets the juices flowing.
Monroe is the latest, and he’s speaking extremely confidently. Not too many give him a shot, though, as Golovkin is basically a 50-1 or higher favorite.
The on-paper, at least, mismatch hasn’t hurt ticket sales. More than 12,000 are already sold and promoter Tom Loeffler expects very close to a sellout, if not a complete one, by the time the show begins.
Golovkin is doing his best to pump the show, noting of Monroe, “He’s tall, quick, very fast, a smart boxer with a good boxing IQ.”
But Golovkin, who says he aims to put on “a big drama show” each time out, doesn’t figure to have much difficulty.
Yet, the turnout is largely attributable to his style and an awareness that there are not a lot of top fighters eager to meet him at this stage.
So Golovkin is, in essence, getting a pass from the fans because he comes to fight and he can’t force anyone to get into the ring with him.
After Alvarez destroyed James Kirkland last week, much of the post-fight attention focused on Alvarez against Cotto, who defends his middleweight belt next month in New York against Daniel Geale.
Asked about Golovkin, Alvarez said he’ll fight anyone, but then he added the caveat that he isn’t a middleweight yet. Left unsaid is the fact that he’s willing to fight Cotto, who is the linear middleweight champion, but doesn’t deem himself prepared to face Golovkin, who admittedly is a natural middleweight.
Golovkin’s strategy during the interminable wait for a big fight has been simple: be exciting while winning and collect all of the belts. Sooner or later, one of the other top guys will have to fight him, he believes.
And so he diligently prepares for foes who are much lesser than he ? guys who don’t have near his complete game ? while never looking bored or complacent.
“There is no style out there I can’t defeat, but I have to prove this,” Golovkin said.
View gallery .
Golovkin throws out the first pitch at Monday’s Dodgers game. (Getty) And so he’ll go about his business and hope that his name gets called sooner or later. If, as expected, he routs Monroe, he’ll be essentially at the mercy of someone else.
If Cotto doesn’t come to terms to fight Alvarez ? and Cotto walked away from a much-discussed May 2 fight with the Mexican superstar ? then an Alvarez-Golovkin fight would be a massive show in the fall.
If Ward, who hasn’t fought since Nov. 16, 2013, because of contract disputes, gets past Paul Smith on June 20, perhaps he’ll be open to the idea of facing Golovkin.
Never, though, has Golovkin uttered a discouraging word. Perhaps one of the reasons he’s becoming so popular, in addition to his explosive knockouts, is because of his congenial nature.
He hasn’t bemoaned the lack of megafights, even though he’s clearly made himself available for them. And he doesn’t feel like he’s running out of time, either.
“Oh no, no, no,” he said. “I have plenty of time. I’m ready to fight, but if Canelo needs time for a good fight, I can wait. I’ll keep fighting and one of those [opponents will say yes].”
So long as complacency doesn’t set in, expect a lot of smiles and a lot of knockouts as he waits for the bout that will ultimately prove why so many feel he’s already one of the best in the world.
