Is Gennady Golovkin's 'Big Drama Show' Getting Stale?

Gennady Golovkin takes aim at what will almost certainly become his latest victim Saturday night (10 p.m. ET on HBO) when he takes on Boxcino middleweight tournament champion Willie Monroe Jr. at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Monroe is a slick southpaw boxer without much punching power. His ability to move around the ring and stay out of range of the Kazakh destroyer's vaunted punching power might allow him to survive a few rounds, but the ultimate result isn't in doubt.

Golovkin is exceptionally patient and precise with his attack. He doesn't overcommit or get frustrated, and sooner or later he'll track down Monroe, drop the hammer and make him little more than a footnote as No. 20 on his knockout streak.

The fans will have their bloodlust and desire for brutal knockouts satiated, GGG will once again be declared the next big thing in boxing—which he might well be—and few will tackle the real question: At what point does this show get stale?

And how long will the fans stick around to see impressive but predictable knockouts of second-tier foes?

Golovkin is a fight fan's dream.

But it's been a nightmare for him to find any significant challengers with the necessary mix of guts and incentive to be willing to step through the ropes and take their chances against the bludgeoning concussive force of his punches.

The Martin Murrays, the Marco Antonio Rubios and the Matthew Macklins of the world can only move the needle for so long.

That's not to say that Golovkin is to blame for the lack of high-profile names on his resume, and he can't force people to fight him, but there's going to come a time when fans won't be satisfied any longer.

What's a guy to do, especially when the only people willing to fight you are the Monroes, who have nothing to lose and no better options?

Miguel Cotto—the lineal middleweight champion by virtue of his stunning stoppage win over Sergio Martinez in June 2014—has shown more evasive maneuvers than a fighter jet whenever asked about facing GGG.

He's instead elected to make the first defense of his 160-pound crown against two-time former middleweight titlist Daniel Geale in June at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

And even that will take place at a catchweight of 157 pounds.

Geale is a solid fighter, and that's no gimme. But Golovkin's scraps—he knocked out Geale in three rounds last summer—aren't the way to consolidate your hold on a middleweight title you seem determined not to defend against your top challenger.

Cotto, should he win, instead appears on a pay-per-view collision course with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the fall, especially in light of the cinnamon-haired former champion's highlight-reel knockout of James Kirkland in HBO's most watched fight since 2006 on Saturday night.

Speaking of Canelo, the 24-year-old superstar has made no secret of his desire to seek out the challenges that most other fighters avoid. He proved that by facing Austin Trout—with a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight potentially on the line—and Erislandy Lara in a pair of bouts nobody could've faulted him for avoiding.

But that's a fight for somewhere down the line.

The "Mexican-style war," as GGG described it, will have to wait.

Oscar De La Hoya, who has a lot invested in Canelo as the future of his company, made it clear in comments to David P. Greisman of BoxingScene.com that Canelo would only face GGG when the “time is right” and not before.

Don't expect the time to be right this year and probably not next year either.

Andre Ward?

The undefeated super middleweight champion spent the better part of the last two years fighting in court with his late promoter Dan Goossen before settling and inking a deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports.

He returns to the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California—after saying "no thanks" to almost two full years of his prime—on June 20 in a catchweight bout against Great Britain's two-time title challenger Paul Smith.

Ward told Bad Left Hook's Scott Christ earlier this year that he'd be open to facing Golovkin.

He never mentioned when.

It's unrealistic to expect that Ward—coming off an extended absence—would be ready for that type of fight before next year, and Golovkin has been on record in the past as saying he'd rather wait until the bout was ripe for pay-per-view.

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Three big fights against big fighters and none a possibility until next year, at best.

What does that leave?

A lot of heavy lifting from GGG, his promoters and the fine people over at HBO to convince the fans that the next show will give them something the last one didn't.

Monroe is going to get knocked out Saturday night.

Mark that down.

So will David Lemieux, Andy Lee or whoever the next guy up will be in the fall once the dust settles and the hunt begins again.

Knockouts sell.

That's Boxing Marketing 101.

But at some point the fans will want more, right?