Gennadiy Golovkin is not just spelling his name differently now — actually, it’s how he always spelled it, now he’s just asking everyone else to do it right — he’s also got a new trainer in Johnathon Banks and says he’s approaching boxing differently from this point on.
Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KO) makes his DAZN debut on June 8 at Madison Square Garden against Steve Rolls, and his team have released a hype video (above) for Golovkin’s return to the ring, which figures to set up a bigger fight in the latter half of 2019.
If you can’t watch for whatever reason, here’s what is said.
Gennadiy Golovkin
“I visited this boxing event not to assess Jacobs or Canelo, I wanted to feel that atmosphere again, see the eyes and faces of the people that are in love with boxing and live boxing. To feel the scale of this event. You have to feel it. If you have felt it as an athlete, then you already know you need this, and this becomes one of those things that motivates you to train harder and pursue your goal.”
“You may call it a restart, a new approach. A new atmosphere is now in the team, a new vision for everything. I cannot say that we were on the wrong path, we were quite successful in our career. But there are other options. I feel like a student who is eager to learn more, who wants to learn more and try it all. There is a goal. You don’t have to continue on a beaten path. You can try new roads and a different approach.”
Johnathon Banks
“What goes on in a fighter’s mind is sort of unrelatable to a lot of people. It’s hard to explain, but it’s just gotta be something like, a fighter — athletes, period, but especially a fighter gotta make decisions that you’re gonna have to live with for the rest of your life. You can make a decision to throw the right hand, it could be the wrong one, you get knocked down. You have to make a decision you believe in.”
“He felt that it was pretty much time for a change. And now that’s his mindset, and he wants to make sure every day we work, he wants to work hard to make sure that he made the right decision.”