Will Gennady Golovkin Keep His KO Streak Alive vs Resilient Marco Antonio Rubio?
WBA and IBO middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin has knocked out 17 opponents in a row. To put that in perspective, Mike Tyson opened his career by knocking out 19 fighters in a row, none of which were as skilled or as accomplished as Golovkin’s last seven.
Like Tyson was in the 1980s, Golovkin has become the scariest man on the planet. Golovkin’s power and skill level are unrivaled at 160 pounds, and he appears to be a fighter destined for big things.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
TheFightCity.com’s Lee Wylie, a boxing writer who specializes in the technical aspects of the sweet science, said Golovkin is the kind of fighter who makes up for a lack of world-class athleticism with good, old-fashioned boxing skill.
“Golovkin more than compensates with an astute appreciation of positioning and timing—arguably the two most important tenets in boxing. Apart from a balanced fighting stance and the application of footwork, the maintenance of these principles is bolstered through the strategic use of boxing’s most refined weapon, the jab.”
Wylie said Golovkin’s jab was one of his best weapons.
“And needless to say, whether he’s using it as a lead to gauge distance and probe for openings, or as a stiff counter to unbalance and disrupt as he simultaneously checks the opponent’s lead hand, Golovkin has at his disposal one of the most well-rounded jabbing games in all of boxing.”
But despite the high praise from Wylie and others, Golovkin has yet to cash in completely on his popularity among the boxing crowd. Despite a glowing record, the credibility of HBO behind him and his team’s willingness to face anyone between 154 and 168 pounds, Golovkin’s path has yet to cross by anyone with legitimate star power.
Things will be no different this Saturday at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, where Golovkin defends his middleweight belts against the rugged and resilient contender Marco Antonio Rubio. The bout will be televised live on HBO.
“I respect him,” said Golovkin. “He’s a good fighter. He’s a boxer from Mexico. He’s very smart.”
But Golovkin also couldn’t help himself in bringing up the names he wants to face in 2015 and likely the type he wishes he’d be across the ring from this weekend. Golovkin told Bleacher Report he wants to fight Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2015.
Rubio is no slouch. Golovkin seems to know that going into the fight, and if he doesn’t, he’ll surely discover it once the bell rings.
It’s never ideal for a fighter to press for the knockout, but Golovkin might need to chuck the luxury of idealism against Rubio for the necessity of opportunism. Because knocking out a rough customer like Rubio would help keep pressure on all the necessary parties involved in making the megafights Golovkin desperately craves.
Golovkin almost secured one such bout earlier this year. HBO Sports senior vice president of operations and pay-per-view Mark Taffet said a proposed HBO PPV bout between Golovkin and Chavez fell through on the Chavez side over the summer to the disappointment of many.
So instead of making one of the biggest fights in the division, Golovkin and team had to settle for a bout against Rubio, a fighter Chavez beat via decision over 12 rounds back in 2012.
Fighting exclusively in Mexico, Rubio has won six straight since the loss to Chavez, snagging an interim WBC middleweight title along the way.
But Golovkin is expected to end that streak, and fans of the 32-year-old from Kazakhstan, or just the middleweight division in general, should hope he does so with concussive results.
Because it’s one thing to have a middleweight scene loaded with big stars like Golovkin, Cotto and potentially Chavez and Alvarez. It’s entirely another thing for them to fight each other, and a Golovkin knockout of Rubio moves that proposal closer to reality.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand by @KelseyMcCarson.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
