GGG vs Rolls: Live results, round by round and discussion

RESULTS

• Gennadiy Golovkin KO-4 Steve Rolls (2:09)
• Ali Akhmedov TKO-3 Marcus McDaniel (1:41)
• Brian Ceballo UD-8 Bakhtiyar Eyubov (80-72, 79-73, 78-74)

ROUND BY ROUND

GENNADIY GOLOVKIN vs STEVE ROLLS

Round 1: Rolls measures with a jab and Golovkin takes a good look at him. Golovkin takes his time and probes Rolls defense with his upper body movement. Golovkin lands a jab. Double jab comes from Golovkin but falls short. Rolls lands a short right hand lead. Jab from Golovkin falls short. Golovkin pushes forward a little more and Rolls closes the distance and smothers him. Short left hook lands for Golovkin on the inside. Golovkin starting off pretty slow, just getting a good look at rolls. Now Golovkin unloads a combination and lands a hard left hook to the body. Clean jab lands upstairs for Golovkin now, catching Rolls off guard. Rolls lands a jab now. Golovkin 10-9.

Round 2: Golovkin bounces at center ring and moves his head from side-to-side. Rolls attacks first and partially lands a right hand. Now Rolls lands a right hand to the body. Short uppercut followed by a left hook downstairs land for Golovkin. Golovkin doubles up on the left hook and then lands another one to the body. Left hand lands for Rolls upstairs. Double left hook gets Rolls’ attention. Golovkin follows it up with a few more shots that are landing well. Now Rolls fires back and gets in a clean shot or two. Rolls steps in close and tries to go to the body. Right hand lands downstairs for Golovkin. Rolls charges back but misses with his punches. Another left hook lands to the ribs of Rolls. Well, so far Rolls looks like he belongs, but I still think Golovkin took this round. Golovkin 10-9, 20-18.

Round 3: Both fighters stand center ring and take a good look at one another. Left hook misses from Golovkin. Golovkin throws a combination and makes some partial contact. Golovkin roughs Rolls up a little on the inside. Now Golovkin lands a counter right hand and goes back down to the body with a hook. Rolls throws a couple of punches that make contact but don’t appear to be effective. Rolls lands a clean right hand counter. Hard left to the body lands again for Golovkin, then a right hand. Golovkin is unloading some power shots now but Rolls is game. Rolls goes down to the body, Golovkin returns the favor. Close round but I still think Golovkin is landing the harder shots. Golovkin 10-9.

Round 4: Golovkin presses forward but Rolls gets off first, disrupting Golovkin’s timing. Golovkin misses on a lead hook. Double jab comes from Golovkin but it doesn’t land clean. Now Golovkin throws in some hooks to the head and body on both sides. Hard left to the ribs lands for Golovkin and Rolls goes to hold immediately. Double left hook comes from Golovkin to the head as Rolls holds up his guard. Another left downstairs lands for Golovkin and is starting to hurt Rolls. ROLLS IS HURT ON THE ROPES AND A MONSTER LEFT HAND PUTS ROLLS DOWN AND OUT! IT’S OVER! GOLOVKIN KO-4.

Tonight at 7 pm ET on DAZN, Gennadiy Golovkin returns at Madison Square Garden in the first fight of his six-bout deal with the streaming service, facing Steve Rolls in a 164-pound catchweight main event.

Wil Esco will be here for round-by-round coverage of the main event, with the main card beginning at 9 pm ET.

The obvious hope for GGG is that he’ll look good and land a third fight with Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 14. The obvious hope for Steve Rolls is a challenge to Joshua-Ruiz for Upset of the Year.

The undercard is kinda like a pretty good ShoBox, basically, some good prospects in decent matchups.

Here’s the full schedule for the show:

Full card (DAZN, 7:00 pm ET)

• Gennadiy Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KO) vs Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KO), catchweight [164], 12 rounds
• Ali Akhmedov (14-0, 10 KO) vs Marcus McDaniel (15-0, 2 KO), super middleweights, 10 rounds
• Brian Ceballo (8-0, 4 KO) vs Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-0-1, 12 KO), welterweights, 8 rounds
• Israil Madrimov (2-0, 2 KO) vs Norberto Gonzalez (24-12, 13 KO), junior middleweights, 10 rounds
• Charles Conwell (9-0, 7 KO) vs Courtney Pennington (12-3-3, 5 KO), junior middleweights, 10 rounds
• Nikita Ababiy (4-0, 4 KO) vs Juan Francisco Barajas (5-0, 3 KO), middleweights, 6 rounds

Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of Golovkin vs Rolls streaming live on DAZN tonight, June 8, at 7:00 pm ET