Memorial Day Sunday Boxing Prospect Spotlight: Gennady Golovkin, Middleweight
by Scott Christ on May 29, 2011 3:00 PM EDT
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Since he already holds a major title (the WBA's trinket), you could argue that Gennady Golovkin (20-0, 17 KO) is not a prospect anymore. And yes, I think he's already a top contender at 160, but that's more the lack of strong veteran depth in the division than anything. Make no mistake -- Golovkin is still a prospect in most respects. And he's a damn good one. That Kazakh fighter is currently without a full-time promoter, but isn't letting that stop him from fighting, either. He grew tired of Universum's nonsense and split with the firm, which was made official earlier this year. He's a 5'10" righty, former amateur star, and 29 years old.
Pros
Golovkin can fight. Ain't no joke. He can fight. If you don't take me seriously (and I can't blame you), maybe some accounts of his sparring escapades will help:
"Alfredo Angulo is a very strong, very competitive, prideful guy who has a great team behind him, but Golovkin is on another level," said [trainer Sam] Garcia, who says he watched three sparring sessions between the two over the course of one week. "His strength, his demeanor, his skill, everything he did in there was just too much for Angulo, which surprised the hell out of me."
[From Doug Fischer's notes] "His right hand is like a laser beam. It reminds me of Kostya Tszyu’s right. The way he holds his hands also reminds me of Tszyu. Come to think of it, Golovkin kind of looks of like Tszyu. He’s got the same muscle tone, Central Asian facial features and oil-black hair (sans the pigtail)."
As an amateur, Golovkin took silver at the 2004 Olympics, losing to Russia's Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov in the gold medal match. To get there, he beat eventual bronze medalist Andre Dirrell. He also won the gold at the 2003 World Championships in Bangkok, beating some very stiff competition, in this order: Matt Korobov, Andy Lee, Lucian Bute (KO-4), Yordanis Despaigne, and Oleg Mashkin. All but Mashkin have found at least some success as professionals. Golovkin is a good, strong all-around fighter with no glaring weaknesses, and any concern that he had "just a European style" have probably been thwarted by his famous sparring sessions with Angulo, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, and now "Canelo" Alvarez.
Cons
The only con really is that he hasn't faced stiff competition professionally. He won the interim WBA title against a weak opponent, then claimed the full title against a weak opponent. It clearly hasn't been his preference, as he split from Universum in part because of their general insistence on avoiding tough fights for their clients. He's been dying to get a fight with Hassan N'dam N'jikam, but it hasn't happened. At 5'10", he's on the short end of middleweights, but he makes up for that by being good.
YouTube Links
vs Mikhail Makarov (2009-11-21) - Full Fight
vs Milton Nunez (2010-08-14) - Full Fight
vs Nilson Julio Tapia - Full Fight
Other Middleweight Prospects
The aforementioned Hassan N'dam N'jikam (26-0, 17 KO) is another serious prospect in a division that does have a lot of them, but he got a bit of a break last time out against Giovanni Lorenzo. Fernando Guerrero (21-0, 16 KO) is a BLH favorite and TV regular who seems to have stagnated at about the level he was at in 2009, to be honest. He's a good fighter, but doesn't look like he'll ever be more than that. Maksym Bursak (22-0-1, 8 KO) is a solid prospect from Ukraine, but not a future star.
I think it would be foolish to give up on Canadian puncher David Lemieux (25-1, 24 KO) just because he lost to a veteran fighter who fought exactly the right fight. Lemieux still has real skills and a big punch, and he's got the right backing to correct his young man's flaws. Top Rank's Matt Korobov (15-0, 9 KO) hit a wall a while back and has been protected to a huge degree. He once excited observers, but is now almost a forgotten man, hidden deep on off-TV undercards. I'm not quite as "forgiving" of Daniel Jacobs (22-1, 19 KO) as I am Lemieux -- Jacobs just seems to have some serious issues that are going to be very, very hard to correct. He'd be wise to emulate Victor Ortiz, another super-hyped Golden Boy prospect who lost to a relative unknown it turned out could really fight. Ortiz has recovered. Jacobs does have the skill, but does he have that will?
The good news for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (42-0-1, 30 KO) is that he'll make a lot of money no matter what. Andy Lee (26-1, 19 KO) is kind of in the same boat -- he's got the Irish thing in his favor, plus he makes for exciting fights.
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Shouldn't
we list his age as a con as well. 29’s a bit old to build up to big money fights, no?
Wear something sexy to my funeral.
Not when he’s has such an extensive amateur career and is on the verge of breaking through to top class in the division.
He’s getting on there in age but if he’s promoted well he should be getting some big name fights within a year or so.
Joe Calzaghe was still fighting the best in the world at 36 in the division above Golovkin.
Carl Froch
was about 30 before he got a big fight, against Jean Pascal (even though neither were big names at the time). Froch is 33 now and has crammed plenty of big names into that 3 year period.
If Golovkin wants to get a move on, i think he can. He should sign with GBP, Arum, or Lou Dibella,etc, imo.
My big worry is that even if he signs with a US promoter, he’s going to still have problems getting big fights. I know I complained about Universum in the fanpost thread on Golovkin, but I imagine no one will really want to fight him no matter who his promoter is.
Dzinziruk, another fighter with no obvious fan base who broke free from Universum, was still kept away from Angulo at all costs even though Shaw was promoting both. Indeed, the only big fight Dzinziruk has been able to get since gaining his freedom was outside of his weight class against one of the best in the world. I can easily imagine Golovkin likewise being kept away from Martinez or Chavez even if he ends up with DiBella or Top Rank. He’ll probably also still have problems compelling Sturm or N’Dam (the other WBA “beltholders”) to fight him no matter who his promoter is.
Pirog is the one guy who I think might be willing to fight him right now, but even he appears more concerned about getting back into the US market than unifying the division. While I think the eventual end of Golovkin’s Universum deal might prove beneficial to his career, I worry that it won’t help him nearly as much as it should.
Sergio Martinez - 36 yoa
and only really broke through a couple of years ago.
Fighters are fighting older nowadays, plus it depends on how many tough fights you ahve been in.
Golovkin has had it relatively easy in the pros so far.
At 5’10", he’s on the short end of middleweights, but he makes up for that by being good.
I know what you mean, and recent tall middleweights like Pavlik, Hopkins and Taylor give the impression that 160lbers are most effective at 6’0+ but there are/were also some top middleweights at 5’11" or under:
Sergio Martinez – 5’ 11"
Marvin Hagler – 5’ 9"
Roy Jones – 5’ 10"
Nigel Benn – 5’ 9"
Jake LaMotta – 5’ 8"
Golovkin`s issue
with UBP isn`t really settled yet. He and his manager lost in court in the first instance, so effectively they are still legally tied to Universum. They are taking it to the next instance, but if and when they`ll be actually declared free is not really in sight.
"Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious." Alan Minter
Do you know when the contract itself is supposed to run out? The article on Golovkin in The Ring suggested November of this year, but now that I think about, I believe I’ve heard Universum claim that it runs through the end of 2012.
That`s a good question. In january, Golovkin`s manager stated that it`s officially running for 10 more month, so that would be october / november. But as Golovkin`s actually not fulfilling his contract, I can imagine that UBP will try to enforce an extension of the contract for the time he didn`t live up to it (or a big compensation instead). I don`t have resilient information about that though.
"Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious." Alan Minter
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