The boxing world has watched on in awe over the past few years as Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin has torn apart the middleweight division, but the Kazakh-born power-punching machine now finds himself at a crossroads.
The well has run dry for the man affectionately known as ‘Triple G.’ He has simply run out of opponents of any worth in his weight class and decisions need to be made about the future path he wishes to tread.
While Golovkin has built himself a sizeable reputation during his 35 professional bouts, all but cleaning out the majority of the middleweight division and knocking out 32 opponents along the way, his latest choice of opponent has left many wondering why.
Rather than face another fringe contender in the middleweight division, Golovkin has chosen instead to face welterweight champion Kell Brook in his next fight. Ridicule has followed the announcement and a plethora of fighters have come out against such a move for the middleweight champion.
Many undoubtedly have their own agenda in remarking on the fight but such derision is not entirely unwarranted.
Newly crowned WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez was one fighter who commented on the Golovkin-Brook match-up and he was less than impressed. In an interview with Boxing Scene, Ramirez was bemused by Golovkin’s choice of opponent.
“Triple G was criticising Canelo a lot for fighting a welterweight and now he’s doing the same thing. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Ramirez is the kind of fighter Golovkin should be looking to battle in order to further enhance his legacy. He’s a bigger champion who holds a title in a higher weight class and would provide a challenge that the undefeated champion sorely needs.
Boxing is prizefighting. These men put their bodies, and often their lives, on the line when they step into the ring and it’s certainly hard to begrudge a fighter for trying to make as much money as possible during what is usually a very short career. Fighting Kell Brook in England will undoubtedly net Golovkin a large sum of money but it also begins to erode his hard-earned reputation as a fighter.
Hunter S. Thompson, a man who often threw caution to the wind, once wrote: “Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?”
The ship that is Golovkin’s career has sailed many seas so far but has yet to face troubled waters. A storm is brewing but will Golovkin dare to brave it?
Greatness goes beyond financial earnings, popularity or mainstream adoration. It’s only after a fighter’s career is clearly in the rearview mirror that we see it for exactly what it is and it’s those who risk it all – those who brave the storm – that usually come out on top.
This is where Golovkin, a very popular champion at present, needs to ensure he doesn’t continue down this path of little risk. The Brook fight could very well be an acceptable one, provided the future holds a jump in weight for ‘Triple G.’ Beating up on men much smaller than one’s self is a surefire way to lose fans and respect in the sport of boxing.
The legacy-defining match-ups for Golovkin aren’t at his preferred weight, or in the lower classes, they lie directly north. In order to be considered among the pantheon of the greats, a fighter must have a resume of worth. Fights against other hall-of-fame level fighters are a must and right now Golovkin’s resume is lacking.
Winning a title, or titles in the super middleweight division, followed by what would be blockbuster fights with Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev would undeniably cement his status as an all-time great.
It’s clear that fighters such as Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs have little desire to fight the fearsome puncher that is Golovkin. Rather than continue to make light work of the likes of Dominic Wade and Willie Monroe Jr, he must make that leap. The choice is now solely on Golovkin to decide if he wants to risk it all to become a legend.
Nick Wu
Guest
Daniel- obviously you're still a bit sore from the beating GGG dished out on Geale a couple years back LOL! Ramirez is trying to get a headline or two by dropping GGG's name. There's nothing more to it. The comparison between Golovkin-Brook and Canelo-Khan is superficial, because the size difference is nowhere near the same. Canelo, irrespective of whatever weightclass he is meant to be fighting at, generally steps into the ring at 175+, whereas Golovkin is a small middleweight (Remember the GGG-Geale fight? Geale had a clear size advantage and still got spanked LOL). Khan isn’t even a true welterweight. In the build-up to the Canelo fight he admitted that he walks around at 155 (you can comfortably dehydrate away 15 pounds at that weight meaning 140 is still pretty reachable) and wasn’t going to bulk-up for fear of losing his speed. Even on fight night he was still 2-3 pounds short of the catchweight. He easily gave away 25-30 pounds to Canelo, but who wouldn’t for 9 million UK. Brook walks around at 175 and kills himself to get to 147. He was only staying at 147 in the hope of landing the Khan fight. Khan ruled himself out of the Brook fight pretty much permanently (who wants to get KO’d at home in a domestic fight?), so Brook was always on the move up in weight anyway, and has since been pumping iron. So in GGG-Brook what you have is a smallish middleweight versus a big welter who’s been pumping iron, whereas Canelo-Khan was a chunky light-heavyweight versus a small but quick welter. Brook and GGG have pretty similar frames so the only question (aside from skill-level) is the difference in experience fighting competitively at that weight. Obviously that is significant, but it’s nowhere near the same fighting a guy with an extra 25-30 pounds of boxer’s muscle. Now, does GGG need to move up in weight to get respect? No. He is much, much, more than just a concussive puncher as you suggest. His timing, speed and accuracy, the combinations he throws, his footwork and overall technique, the variety and angles of his punches, his granite chin, ring-craft, temperament, basically he has everything a boxer could have, which is why he is generally regarded as the p4p no. 1 boxer on the planet. And he is already beating up guys who are bigger than him. Geale and Murray, both seasoned world-level natural supermiddles, stepped up in weight after getting TKO’d by GGG (both first time TKO’s) so he could easily do the same to one of the current supermiddleweight titlists, but as they are all, aside from Felix Sturm (who is on a downward trajectory), in the early stages of boxing at the world-level, that would prove nothing. GGG was at least 12-15 pounds lighter than Geale on that fateful night which still obviously irks you so LOL! Titles only have meaning in who you beat to get them. Brook has at least been a champion longer, is a bit more seasoned and has looked more comfortable at his own level than all of the SM titlists. He also has one standout performance against Porter, which is one more than all of the newly crowned SM titlists combined. Of course that wasn’t at middleweight, but it was still a standout performance. No-one fancied him to win. As for GGG going up to LH against Kovalev or Ward. No. It’s relatively rare that truly elite fighters come around and happen to be in the same weight division at the same time. No one will blame him for not fighting another elite-level fighter who is alot bigger. It’s also rare that a fighter unifies his division and holds on to all of his belts. GGG is still fresh for his age because he’s won so comfortably, so he still has a good few years left in the tank and can thus secure his legacy by doing exactly that. Honestly buddy this is worse than all that guff you wrote about Lucas Browne’s Rocky Balboa-style fantasy fighting future (I only came across it when I saw an update re his situation). That said thanks for the article, I do really enjoy taking it all apart which I guess is what this website is all about. And finally just because GGG beat your fighter doesn’t mean you need to try to tear him down. Factually, boxers are dodging GGG not the other way around, but nice try :) LOL
Daniel Attias
Expert
I was wondering if anyone would bring that up RBB! For the record, I agree with you but there are plenty out there who feel Leonard done enough to win it.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
Come on man everyone knows Hagler won that fight, despite what the judges saw
Daniel Attias
Expert
The bigger question for me here, is who has Golovkin beaten? Sure, he doesn't have to go up in weight, he is a middleweight after all but should he choose to stay at that weight who will be his finest victory when all is said and done? Geale? Lemiuex? No offence to those guys but those wins don't exactly wow me, or many others for that matter, Ali had Foreman and Frazier. Pacquiao beat Morales, Cotto, Hatton and Barrera, Sugar Ray Robinson was primarily a welterweight but what makes him the greatest in many peoples eyes was his championship run at middleweight. Harry Greb often beat bigger men, Sugar Ray Leonard beat Hagler at middleweight, the list goes on. I'm certainly not saying Golovkin isn't a great champion, he has cleaned out his division, what I am saying is that should he wish to be mentioned in the same category as those aforementioned legends, he needs to take a risk and step up. He needs a big name on his resume. He has the talent to do so, does he have the fortitude?
Geno
Guest
Pretty good article, and I agree that he should stay at 160 but he definitely needs to stop picking on fighters who have never fought at that weight(Brook and Canelo)
Farqueue
Guest
Didn't canelo and cotto just fight for the ring magazine belt for best middleweight. Now neither wants to fight him. That's not ggg's fault. The middleweight title is much more prestigious than the fairly newly formed super middle weight class. At least Brook is undefeated, unlike the chinny Khan, who canelo fought. GGG should just stay where he is. Undisputed,undefeated middleweight champion is not such a bad thing. At least canelo is no longer champ, how ridiculous it was having the middleweight champion telling us he is not a middleweight and fighting at catch weights instead. Glad he gave up the belts, plus gave up his pride.
Big J
Guest
G'day daniel, I found your read very interesting, as only a casual boxing fan I'm no expert but I would like to look at your article another way. Who is happier? The bloke that weathered the storm or bloke that stayed on the shore, well mate Id rather stay on shore and have millions of dollars and earn it easily rather than face Mother Nature at her worse and get the crap kicked out of me in the process, work smart not hard. Why have the crap punched out of you if you don't have to, boxing is hard enough as it is. Has ggg been tested yet? he has punched out 32 of his opponents, I dont think he has much left to prove, there is always someone out there to fight but who has the guts to step up to him??? Maybe mayweather ( the bloke on the shore for example) should step up. This time he might actually earn his fat pay check this time. I don't think ggg needs to go up or down weight to prove anything. He is the champ people chase him for a fight to prove themselves not him chasing fighters to prove himself. Or maybe I'm too out of touch
Daniel Attias
Expert
I agree that there's some good 'potential' matches at 160 for Golovkin Nic, but as you said, its become pretty clear that the likes of Jacobs, BSJ and Canelo are clearly ducking him and at 34 years of age he doesn't have the time to wait for the Charlo's, Andrade or J-Rock to move up from 154. Titles at 168 would add a lot more to his legacy than fighting fringe guys at middleweight and the aforementioned big fights at 175 would undoubtedly make him an all-time great. Lets hope we can see a mega fight for him in the near future, he deserves that, if he wants to risk going up that far in weight that is.
Nic
Guest
There are potentially a number of good fights that could be made for GGG @ 160 in the next few years against the likes of Jacobs, BSJ, Lara, Canelo, the Charlos, Andrade and J-Rock. In "better" times, they would keep him busy until near retirement. Unfortunately, many are outright ducking him (Jacobs, BSJ & Canelo), another is blowing hot air (Lara) whilst it is a bit early for the others. At 168, there is really only the winner of DeGale-Jack as Arum has said that Ramirez needs "more time" (code for "no thankyou") So it's onto 175 and 2 much, much bigger men in Kovalev and Ward In many ways, I feel sorry for GGG as he must be one of the most avoided fighters in history However, the Brook fight, whilst potentially interesting and undoubtedly lucrative, does him no favours either Rock and a hard place springs to mind
Daniel Attias
Expert
Thanks Grafter. Oscar certainly didn't want to risk his cash cow losing, hence the decision to drop the belt and avoid Golovkin. The business side of the sport has a lot to answer for.
The Grafter
Guest
Well written Dan. Its a shame Alverez (through Oscar) avoided GGG, and like you I can only see him going up to Super Middle to truly be tested.