SONAHR: April 24, 2016 – WBA ?super? and IBF middleweight champion Gennady (GGG) Golovkin?s reign of terror continued on Saturday as he dispatched yet another hopeless challenger in short order. This time, the victim was undefeated and untested Dominic Wade, who didn?t make it out of the second round. In full ?destruct and destroy? mode, Golovkin floored Wade once in the first round, and twice in the second, prompting the referee to stop the slaughter.
The big question among the middleweights these days is not whether or not there?s anyone who can beat Golovkin. The question is whether or not there?s anyone who can give him a good fight. Among the 160-pounders, GGG stands like a redwood in the middle of a grove of apple trees.
With his record now standing at 35-0, with 32 knockouts, we know Golovkin is good ? damn good. But is he great? We can?t be sure yet, because he hasn?t been truly tested in the ring. His position is similar to that of Marvelous Marvin Hagler back in the 1980s. As a dominant middleweight champion, everyone knew he was good, but most of his challengers were poor to mediocre, other than fellow future hall-of-famer Roberto Duran, who gave him a good fight while losing by decision. It took a legendary three-round war with another future hall-of-famer, Thomas Hearns, to establish Marvelous Marvin as one of the all-time greats in his division.
So, does GGG have an equivalent to Hearns looming on the horizon? Someone who stands at least a 50-50 chance of beating him? At this point, the only middleweight who fits that description is Saul (Canelo) Alvarez, who holds the WBC piece of the championship pie. If Canelo turns back the challenge of Amir Khan next month, that will set up an event-of-the-year-level superfight with Golovkin later this year.
Alvarez is a fine fighter, having lost only to Floyd Mayweather Jr. during a one-sided session in Professor Mayweather?s Academy of Advanced Boxing Arts. Canelo has bounced back well since then, winning the WBC crown from a declining-but-still dangerous Miguel Cotto. Previously, he scored a spectacular kayo win over dangerous-but-vulnerable James Kirkland. But Cotto and Kirkland are not Golovkin. GGG will be Alvarez?s most formidable opponent since Mayweather ? maybe moreso, since Golovkin is a bigger man and packs a bigger punch to go along with his superlative boxing skills.
The rest of the division features the likes of WBA ?regular? champion Danny Jacobs, WBO title-holder Billy Joe Saunders, prospect Chris Eubank Jr., and retreads Peter Quillin, Andy Lee, and David Lemieux, who was knocked out by Golovkin last year. These guys are competitive among each other. But they?d all be prohibitive underdogs against Golovkin, and live underdogs against Alvarez.
So, Golovkin had better hope that Khan doesn?t pull off an upset against Alvarez on May 7. Such a triumph would be fantastic for Khan, of course. But a GGG-Khan matchup would be far less attractive than one between Golovkin and Mexican idol Canelo. Besides, Alvarez would want a rematch with Khan, leaving Golovkin to continue to pick and choose among the lesser lights. Greatness beckons Gennady Golovkin. What he needs is an opponent who can force him to dig deeply into his reserves of will and skill ? the same kind of moment-of-truth ordeal that Hearns provided for Hagler.
