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Gennady Golovkin: 'We respect Macklin, but his strengths will have no effect on me'

Gennady Golovkin faces Matthew Macklin in what is on paper the toughest test of his career on June 29, but is confident that he'll continue to roll on as one of boxing's most talked-about fighters.

USA TODAY Sports

Unbeaten middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin is training in Big Bear for his June 29 HBO main event against Matthew Macklin, a fight that is expected to be a test to find out just how good Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO) is -- or if perhaps he's been overhyped against marginal opposition.

"Training has been going very well, we have a very good atmosphere up in Big Bear," Golovkin said from camp. "This is where I have trained for my last seven fights and I am very comfortable here. I have been getting great sparring, training with WBO junior middleweight champion Zaurbek Baysangurov.

"Every morning I wake up at 6:30 and do my morning run, which is anywhere between 4-5 miles. We go to the gym in the afternoon and, depending on the day, I will either spar or work on strategy with Abel. Every night, we all have dinner together as a team and then we spend the latter part of the evening socializing, relaxing and watching movies."

The 31-year-old WBA titleholder is 2-0 in 2013, with a pair of dominant wins over Gabriel Rosado and Nobuhiro Ishida. Unlike those two, however, Macklin is a natural middleweight. Still, Golovkin is highly confident that he'll be able to keep his impressive run rolling along.

"We respect Macklin, but I don't believe that the strengths that he has shown in the past against previous opponents will have any effect on me. I expect him to be a complete different fighter with a completely different game plan against me. Whatever he brings though, we will be more than ready to come away successful, and as always I plan on putting on a very strong, and entertaining performance on June 29th."

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