Gennady Golovkin from Kazakhstan will defend his IBF Middleweight title on October 18 in California when he takes on Marco Antonio Rubio.
Golovkin, or GGG as he is popularly known, has yet to lose any of his 30 professional fights.
Furthermore, no one has gone the distance with GGG since Amar Amari in 2008 took him to eight rounds but was beaten in a unanimous points decision.
Golovkin is 32 and stands 5’11” with a reach is 177 centimetres. Rubio on the other hand is two years older and an inch shorter but with the same reach.
Rubio has faced 66 bouts with a 59-6-1 record. However, he has had a mixed lead in with a UD in his favour against Marcus Upshaw in March last year, while he knocked out Dionisio Miranda in the second round in July last year and knocked out Domenico Spada in the 10th round in April.
Golovkin’s last five fights were against well credentialled fighters including Danny Geale, Osumanu Adama and Curtis Stevens. All three had impressive win-loss records before meeting GGG, and apart from the brutal knock down of Danny Geale the bouts went seven rounds or better.
Rubio is underprepared. Apart from Spada, his opponents over the last 18 months have been of mediocre quality. For Upshaw, with a 15-8-2 record, to take Rubio to 12 rounds for a UD reveals that Rubio may be fighting above his class when he takes on GGG. It should not be forgotten also that Julio Chavez Jr beat Rubio on points just two years.
Stranger things have happened but I will be quite surprised if GGG is beaten by Rubio. I might also bravely predict that the fight will not go the distance.
By the time this article goes to print we should know the result of the fight between Curtis Stevens and Hassan N’Jikam.
Stevens, a short and pugnacious fighter, has won both of his bouts this year after losing to GGG last November. N’Jikam from Cameroon is taller than Stevens and his record is slightly better but the quality of recent opponents however may see Stevens better prepared.
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