MYTH /miTH/
Take a bow “GGG”, you are well on your way to being a legendary all-time great. Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
1. Its a traditional story, or a legend, that explains some sort of phenomenon, and it typically involves a supernatural being or event.
2. A widely held but false belief or idea.
I’ve always felt that the great Julio Cesar Chavez was the very best ever at winning the battle of ring generalship with effective aggressiveness. I still do. To borrow from HBO’s oft hated (but brilliant) ringside announcer Max Kellerman, if you’re trying to figure out who won a round, ask yourself who you would have rather been in that round?
Not since Chavez have I seen a fighter control a round – and a fighter – with the type of effective aggressiveness while winning the battle of ring generalship than middleweight boss Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (30-0, 27KO’s). In fact, before its all said and done, he may end up being even better than Chavez was in how he imposes himself and his will on an opponent.
The legendary (and almost mythical) Chavez was a methodical, extremely heavy-handed, iron-willed, granite-chinned, offensive mauler with balls of steel. He is one of my very favorite fighters of all-time and the greatest Mexican fighter to have ever lived.
By the time Chavez was the same age as Golovkin is now (32), he was defending his WBC 140lb. belt against a very good fighter in Tony Lopez, but he was clearly on the decline. Just prior to that he beat Meldrick Taylor again via 8th round TKO in a meaningless rematch, and survived the saga of Frankie Randall (who was the first drop and beat him).
About a year prior he was given a “gift” draw against the great Pernell Whitaker to taint an 87-0 record. Comparing him to Chavez may seem suspect, but upon closer inspection – its not.
Chavez only had 14 amateur fights and turned pro at age 17. Golovkin, by contrast, is one of the greatest amateur fighters to have ever lived, going 345-5 while collecting numerous awards and medals. Though he is much maligned, Chavez was fortunate to have Don King recognize his ability at an earlier age. He won his first world title at 22 and became a network television sensation in the 80’s.
Golovkin, because of his extensive amateur work in European obscurity, was somewhat delayed in his professional work. Though he massacred future star Lucian Bute via stoppage and mauled Andre Dirrell as an amateur, he was penalized for doing so as a professional.
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Stories – and legends – travel fast in the sport of Boxing. When you’ve never been floored as an amateur or as a pro (or even in any gym fight, eh-mm, according to uh… legend), trainers and managers of other fighters are going to talk.
Like much of the fight world, I got my first look at Golovkin on HBO against the creme cake and crash test dummy Grzegorz Proksa about 2 years ago.
I was curious about why HBO put him on primetime against this cupcake. But even more so, by the presence of Abel Sanchez in his corner. I knew Sanchez had trained Terry Norris a long time ago and pretty much turned him into a monster. It takes a certain type of fighter to be a Sanchez fighter. He favors Mexican aggression, rare durability, and the need for a very strong chin.
I was very curious.
So the first tape I looked at on Golovkin was the fight Sanchez prepared him for with a very tough former super welterweight champ Kassim Ouma in June 2011. Ouma actually defeated the man Golovkin will face next week, Marco Antonio Rubio, via hard-nosed split decision in 2006.
He looked more Kostya Tsyzu than Chavez that night, but I could see where they were going. He was Soviet styled in a lot of ways- stemming from years of systematic training in a stand-up, straight forward, punishing attack. He endured a lot of punishment in the process without flinching, and he essentially made a world class fighter quit.
Right after that fight, he annihilated Lajuan Simon in a round to capture the IBO world title. I knew Simon was extremely tough and had never been knocked down before.
Hmm…
Then I retraced some more, going back to the lab to witness his 1st round mugging of Columbian badass Milton Nunez to capture the WBA world title.
Seeing something really rare in him, I did a little homework on this diamond way out-of-the-rough from Kazakhstan. Born to a Russian coal miner and a Korean chemist, he was simply born to fight. His resolve can be traced back to his two brothers killed in war before he was 14. As a boy, they would make him pick random men out of a crowd and fight them.
He does not understand fear.
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By the time Sanchez got to him at the end of 2008, fighters at the professional level had figured out how to get around him and his special power. 3 of the 6 fights he had over that year went the distance. He was very tight in the hips, rigid, and square in the shoulders. He was also too flat-footed and lacked flexibility. His chin could be found like a lantern in a f*cking storm, but there’s no off switch to it.
None of that exists now, and what Sanchez has done with him is on par with Freddie Roach’s legendary work with Manny Pacquiao. Today, I believe he is the world’s very best fighter and one of the greatest middleweight champions of all-time. His 90% KO rate is the best among active champions today, and can match the legendary Marvelous Marvin Hagler with 12 title defenses should he beat Rubio next week.
He will.
In fact (go get a chair and a glass of water for what I’m about to say), I think the current version of Golovkin beats Hagler if they were to fight, and I think he’d stop him.
Before you think this is a sacrilege just watch two fights from Hagler, the 1984 bout with Roberto Duran and the one prior to that with Juan Roldan. Hagler was 30 that year (if you believe his birth certificate); but is famous for what he did the following year in 1985, his epic 3rd round KO classic over Thomas Hearns.
If there is a fight God, Golovkin will get his defining moment in the near future.
Getting maximum authority on everything he throws, “GGG” has excellent balance, finesse when needed, a nuanced inside attack, great distance control and incredible economy. He can still be hit – but he possesses a granite chin, and will gladly take to give. Turning the ring into geometric fragments while dividing it into small squares, he probably makes a fighter feel as if the ring is maybe no bigger than the bathroom of a one-bedroom apartment.
Every detractor I talk to about Golovkin (and the very same ones who think I’m “CrAzY” for my current assessment on him), will talk about who he hasn’t fought. I generally ignore fans for this – many of them have never been in an actual ring and they simply don’t know any better.
Brooklyn’s Curtis Stevens was a very real threat to Golovkin and had a lot to say when I engaged him at ringside before Golovkin was to face Matthew Macklin last year.
He was as adamant as anyone I’d ever spoke to that Golovkin was no more than a myth that he would expose in legendary fashion. He was very angry with me for telling him to his face that he was going to take a massive beating that would probably ruin him. A year or so later and that much is clear. Golovkin actually carried him on purpose in an 8th round massacre.
We won’t really learn much more about Golovkin next week when he brutally dispatches a very, very tough Marco Antonio Rubio. All Rubio is is a 59-6-1 totally tough bastard with 51 KO’s. Yet it’ll still be, who’s he fought?
Is it really his fault that “name opponent” Sergio Martinez would not face him? Look at how enhanced Miguel Cotto’s legend has become for beating him. He wouldn’t have lasted 2 rounds with “GGG”. And what to make of Golovkin’s public challenge of Floyd Mayweather at an emaciated 154lbs?
Consider that as Golovkin was making this challenge the first time (he challenged Floyd 3 times over the last 2 years), he was beating the hell out of light heavyweight menace Sergei Kovalev in private sparring sessions. And network problems my ass, Showtime and HBO have no problem bringing Bernard Hopkins and Kovalev together next month.
Floyd simply doesn’t want to fight him, no matter how much weight he loses that would actually benefit Floyd. Then there’s this gem of a quote from unbelievably tough guy and super middleweight champ Carl Froch:
?Just swerve Golovkin like the plague. He punches like a mule. I don?t need to be in with him. Dangerous fight.?
Oh.
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You can’t beat what won’t join you. Golovkin, at 32, while considering his style around the same age the great Chavez started to malfunction, doesn’t have time to really face the Demetrius Andrades or Peter Quillin’s of the world. He needs a rival befitting of his legend lest he becomes myth.
No one believes Miguel Cotto would challenge him, and it would probably only open up more questions. While a bout with former and new HBO roster rockstar Saul Canelo Alvarez would be a scintillating affair, I’m not sure dispatching him would garner the type of respect he needs.
He needs Andre Ward, and to be fair, Ward needs him.
We’re all born to make mistakes – not fake perfection – and that’s the main difference between a legend and a myth. The fact that Golovkin is both while being “real” in the process, is a testament to not only how good he is – but how good he just “might” be.
Time, will certainly tell us whether he’s more of one than the other.
