Gennady Golovkin vs. Willie Monroe Jr.: Odds, Prediction Before Weigh-In Results

Undefeated WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin comes into Saturday night's defense against Willie Monroe Jr. riding a streak of 19 straight knockout victories. He walked through former world champion Daniel Geale and contenders such as Martin Murray, Matthew Macklin and Grzegorz Proksa, who all gave competitive fights to other world champions.   

GGG has been the hottest fighter in the sport over the past three years. He has unleashed a march of destruction that hasn't been seen in boxing since the days of Mike Tyson in the 1980s. 

Still, for the type of gambler who dreams of the sort of once-in-a-lifetime long shot where even a small bet ends up covering months' worth of living expenses, this could be a fight worth checking out. 

According Odds Shark, Monroe is between a plus-1,400 and plus-2,500 underdog. By contrast, Golovkin is as much as a minus-6,000 favorite after opening at minus-10,000. It's not every day that a bettor is faced with odds like this.

Monroe is a former amateur standout who has looked very slick in his recent fights. Last year, he won ESPN's Boxcino middleweight tournament with ease. Last January, he handled tough veteran Brian Vera as few opponents have before. 

He's a crafty southpaw, and I've seen GGG get hit by enough straight rights from orthodox boxers to think a quick lefty like Monroe might be able to make problems for him with the jab. If Monroe can pester Golovkin with his jab and stay to the outside of GGG's lead hook and far away from that monster right, the fight could develop into something very interesting. 

Monroe is one of the few middleweights in the world with the toolbox to possibly accomplish such a task. At the very least, he will present a type of challenge that the come-forward Golovkin has yet to face.  

Still, Golovkin is a substantial favorite for a reason. He won an Olympic silver medal for his native Kazakhstan. A boxer doesn't achieve accomplishments like that in the amateur ranks without being able to handle a wide variety of styles.

Monroe is going to surprise a lot of people and win some rounds in this fight, but he's not going to be able to avoid getting hit by Golovkin completely. And a puncher like Golovkin doesn't have to land a lot of shots to turn the tide of a fight.

Monroe will extend this fight longer than most of Golovkin's opponents manage to. It's not impossible that he might manage to gut things out to the final bell and break GGG's KO streak.

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But it's more likely that Golovkin's pressure will slow Monroe up by the later rounds. At that point the punishment will be too much. Expect a stoppage sometime after Round 7.

Monroe's reputation will take a major bounce from this fight, but standing up to a machine like Golovkin is too much to ask from any middleweight on the planet at this point.