Gennady Golovkin vs. Willie Monroe Jr.: Winner, Recap and Reaction

WBA, interim WBC and IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KO) got his 20th straight knockout on Saturday night at the Los Angeles Forum, but he took more punishment from Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2) than he has in any previous bout.

It wasn't clear whether Golovkin was simply toying with his opponent, fatigued or slightly befuddled by Monroe's game effort. In any case, Monroe was forced to succumb to the Kazakh's power in the sixth round of an entertaining bout. 

Golovkin dropped Monroe twice in the second round, and it looked as if he would completely walk through him inside six minutes. Somehow, Monroe escaped the frame. Even more surprising was the challenger's ability to mount a serious comeback in the fourth and fifth rounds after taking a beating in the second.

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Monroe snapped Golovkin's head back repeatedly with hooks, straights and jabs. None of the shots seemed to have much of an effect on Golovkin. Instead, it looked like the formulaic part of an action movie when the big villain lets the little protagonist punch him in the face, only to flash a smile of ultimate intimidation.

That might have been Golovkin's plan, but he may have allowed the game to last a little longer than it should have. Monroe continued to land shots into the fifth round as well. 

Finally, in the sixth round, Golovkin seemed to decide he'd had enough of the games, putting Monroe down for a third and final time. With submission plastered on his face, Monroe barely beat referee Jack Reiss' count.

After a quick reprimand from the veteran referee about nearly being counted out, Monroe appeared to mouth to Reiss: "I'm done." After the fight was over, per Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole, Reiss confirmed Monroe's surrender:

One look at the CompuBox numbers tells you how much Golovkin still dominated, even with Monroe's flurries:

While Golovkin was taking shots from Monroe, GGG was egging the challenger on as if to say, "Hit me with your best shot." In the post-fight interview with HBO's Max Kellerman, Golovkin acknowledged his attempt to make the fight "a big drama show."

Despite his underdeveloped English, Golovkin might have coined the new term used to describe a thrilling slugfest in boxing. Welterweight contender Amir Khan and Golden Boy Promotion's head man Oscar De La Hoya made it a hashtag:

Perhaps Golovkin's plan to create intrigue worked. He was able to make De La Hoya question him mid-fight with the following tweet:

Is this enough for De La Hoya to push for a bout between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez? Golovkin says he's ready. He was also asked about taking on the likes of Miguel Cotto and Canelo by Kellerman during the post-fight interview. You can see and hear in the video tweeted by HBO Boxing that Golovkin welcomes the challenge from both popular Hispanic fighters.

As good as Golovkin looked on Saturday night and in past fights, he's not going to be an extremely difficult fighter to hit with shots. The question is: can his opponents take and/or avoid his power? 

Monroe did his best, but it wasn't good enough. He was wise to pull the plug on his evening before he took unnecessary damage in a fight he couldn't win. Monroe came into the bout with just six knockouts to his credit. Perhaps that's why Golovkin was content to play the punch-me-in-the-face game with him. In any case, Monroe still made a good account of himself.

As for Golovkin, the time has come for the bout that doesn't need manufactured drama. Will Canelo, Cotto or Andre Ward please stand up and take a leading role?

Every fight fan sure hopes so.

Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter