Gennady Golovkin will take on Vanes Martirosyan in a bit of a makeshift edition HBO Championship Boxing on Saturday night from StubHub Center in Carson, California.
After the rematch with Canelo Alvarez fell through, Martirosyan was chosen to replace the former as Golovkin and his team didn’t want to lose the date and waste the training time and resources GGG had already spent preparing for the Mexican superstar.
Golovkin is one of the true stars of the sport, but we’ll find out how well he can draw fans with an opponent who is well beneath him on the popularity scale. Here are the 10 things you should know about Saturday’s fight.
How to Watch
This will be a very late start, especially for those on the east coast where it seems Golovkin has built a sizable North American fanbase. The action gets underway at 11 pm ET. Fight fans would be wise to take an early nap.
How This Fight Came About
After Canelo failed two drug tests when he tested positive for Clenbuterol, he withdrew from the fight. GGG and his team scrambled to find an opponent to replace him and they considered Spike O’Sullivan, but the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.
They settled on Martirosyan, a fighter who isn’t known for his movement or massive punching power, though he’s rugged, professional and never been stopped in his career.
Titles At Stake
Golovkin’s WBA, IBF, WBC, and IBO titles will be on the line in this bout.
Weigh-In Info
Tale of the Tape Golovkin Category Martirosyan 36 age 32 orthodox stance orthodox 5’10.5 height 5’11.5″ 70″ reach 70″ Record 37 won 36 0 lost 3 1 drawn 1 33 KOs 21
Odds
Here is a look at the latest odds per OddsShark. Golovkin is a massive favorite.
Gennady Golovkin -3000 Vanes Martirosyan -1100
Last Time Out
Golovkin faced Alvarez in a high profile and controversial draw in September 2017. Many felt he won the fight after coming on strong late, but Canelo seemed to outbox him early. I’m one of the few who didn’t have a problem with the decision, though the one card scored for Canelo was hard to fathom.
Martirosyan hasn’t fought in two years. He last faced Erislandy Lara in May 2016 and he lost a unanimous decision. Aside from the skill gap between him and Golovkin, the long layoff also plays a part in Martirosyan’s unfavorable odds.
Most Impressive Victory
It’s hard to determine Golovkin’s best performance. Some might say the Canelo fight, but he didn’t officially win. Others may say the unanimous-decision win over Daniel Jacobs, but I scored that fight for The Miracle Man. I’d have to go back to Golovkin’s demolition of Matthew Macklin in 2013 to point out his best win.
He dominated from the opening bell and then eradicated Macklin with a body shot that made me take notice.
Martirosyan has faced a handful of good fighters, but he has lost to most of them. To find his best victory you could probably choose between his unanimous-decision wins over Willie Nelson in 2014 or Kassim Ouma in 2010.
I’ll go with the latter because Martirosyan had to get off the canvas in the ninth round to win.
What’s Golovkin’s Goal?
Winning isn’t enough for Golovkin in this bout. Most see Martirosyan as far inferior to GGG, thus a basic unanimous-decision victory won’t be impressive to the boxing community. At 36 years old, there’s already talk of Golovkin getting old and being past his prime.
A less-than-sterling performance against Martirosyan will fuel that narrative. Expect Golovkin to try to become the first man to stop Martirosyan.
What’s Martirosyan’s Goal?
No one expects Martirosyan to win on Saturday night, so any measure of success he experiences will only improve his stock. At 32, there’s still time for him to collect solid paydays against bigger names looking for a mid-level challenger who can be parlayed as a legitimate threat.
Martirosyan will always be competitive in his fights. He has a ton of heart and he’s a professional. His chances of winning seem slim, but anything can happen in boxing.
