Ranking the Most Important Knockouts of Gennady Golovkin's Career

It’s been nothing if not a heady climb.

Though Gennady Golovkin has been a professional fighter for nine years, it wasn’t until the last two or three that he’d begun crossing the multiple lines from anonymous European to cult KO favorite to legitimate premium cable television commodity.

But now that he’s done so, he’s firmly on the radar of the movers and shakers who could help him cross the next line—to legitimate pay-per-view superstar—though it’s less certain that the handlers of prospective PPV opponents are going out of their way to provide chances. In fact, they’re spending more time these days establishing conditions than signing contracts.

Case in point, Oscar De La Hoya, who suggested a match with his main man, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, is ultimately on the 160-pound horizon. But only if Triple-G handles some business in the meantime.

“At the right time, people will see that fight,” De La Hoya told CBSSports.com.

“Golovkin has to fight somebody at 168. Golovkin keeps calling out fighters who are 154. He has to call out somebody at 168 and challenge a big name, like Andre Ward for instance. If he has that type of signature win, then he can maybe become a pay-per-view fighter.”

De La Hoya’s timetable notwithstanding, we went ahead and put together a list of the six fights—all within his active streak of 19 straight KOs—that we believe have been most instrumental for Golovkin as he’s established himself as a must-see fighter. Take a look at our choices and let us have your ideas in the comments section.

6. Malik Dziarra (TKO 2)

It wasn't the sort of performance that warranted headlines.

In fact, the number of boxing experts who could have picked a 14-0 Golovkin out of a lineup after a TKO stoppage of 34-year-old journeyman Malik Dziarra in Rostock, Germany, would probably fall have fallen somewhere in the low single digits.

Nevertheless, the November 2008 victory—thanks to a jagged cut on the Belarus-born Dziarra's left eyelid—does provide a starting point for the early-endings streak that's now reached 19 and has made Golovkin the latest darling of those so-called experts.

Dziarra most resembled a sturdy sparring partner for the first round-and-a-half, before Golovkin began reaching him with thudding right hands. The cut appeared after a barrage of those rights drove Dziarra into a corner, and his seconds were unable to stem the bleeding enough to prolong the thrashing into Round 3.

In fact, Dziarra, who fell to 29-4, hasn't fought since.

And while it won't be singled out on Golovkin's Canastota plaque, you've got to start somewhere, right?

5. Kassim Ouma (TKO 10)

Ugandan-born Kassim Ouma was a former 154-pound champion with a perennially compelling backstory, but he’d also lost five of seven fights and had been reduced to little more than gatekeeper status by the time he shared a ring with Golovkin in Panama City, Panama, in June 2011.

That didn’t mean, however, that besting him wasn’t a meaningful feat.

Ouma landed his share of shots as Golovkin ground forward through the early rounds, but his blows had little impact beyond irritation and his own badly swollen face was ultimately the highest-profile evidence to that point of the Kazakhstan native’s perpetually punishing offensive prowess.

Referee Guillermo Pineda watched closely as the exchanges became more and more one-sided in the eighth and ninth rounds, and he ultimately rescued a non-protesting Ouma at 1:57 of the 10th.

Ouma has fought just once—defeating a 9-12 opponent in December 2013—after the loss but still told BoxingScene.com that he was hoping for another opportunity.

“Triple-G is doing really good. I give him all of the credit in the world,” he said. “I was ahead on the cards when they stopped the fight. I want a rematch. I'll knock him out.”

4. Lajuan Simon (KO 1)

Back in Germany six months after the Ouma thrashing, Golovkin took on another skidding veteran in Philadelphia-born Lajuan Simon, who’d lost three times in his last five fights but had never been stopped in 28 professional outings.

In addition to an arguable step up in competition, it was also Golovkin’s first try at a full-fledged world title belt—sanctioned by the International Boxing Organization. He’d competed for the WBA’s second-tier “world” championship it two previous fights but only while its “super” title was held by Felix Sturm.

Still, while the jewelry involved may have been iffy, it was nothing short of convincing in the ring.

A pair of straight right hands had landed well for Golovkin early in the opening round, but he quickly ended matters by ripping a single left hook over Simon’s low guard in the session’s late going, leaving his durable 6'1" foe flat on his back for the full 10-count from referee Jose Martinez.

The official time was only 2:17, but even a cameo appearance yielded rave reviews from BoxingScene.com’s Jake Donovan.

“Somewhere out there awaits a sufficient challenge for Golovkin, who has made it look easy ever since turning pro in 2006,” Donovan wrote in a Dec. 9, 2011 recap. “Wherever and whenever that moment takes place, the unbeaten titlist will undoubtedly be ready, willing and able to further prove his worth.”

3. Grzegorz Proksa (TKO 5)

Now that it’s been nearly three years, people might forget that Grzegorz Proksa was viewed as something more than just another warm body when he stepped in with Golovkin in September 2012.

The Polish-born slugger, then 27 years old, had won 27 of his 28 pro fights and had avenged the lone loss—a majority decision to Kerry Hope in March 2012—with an eighth-round stoppage four months later that served as his springboard to the Golovkin match. It was also Golovkin’s first fight in the United States and his first appearance on HBO.

But by the time it was over, it was clear that it wouldn’t be his last.

Proksa, who’d never been knocked down, was dropped three times over four-plus rounds with a then-unheralded opponent who became an official winner when referee Charlie Fitch waved it off at 1:11 of the fifth.

And in the aftermath, the beaten man was impressed with the winner.

“The guy hits like a hammer,” Proksa said, via BoxingScene.com.

“I tried everything, but if did not work. You have to give him credit because he had a good handle on the situation and it was an honor to meet him in the ring. I think today I fought not only the best fighter in my weight class, but perhaps even in the pound-for-pound rankings.”

2. Daniel Geale (TKO 3)

In terms of trophy-case street cred, Daniel Geale was Golovkin’s most challenging test.

The Australian came in having had nine previous world title fights, from which he’d emerged as a winner seven times while capturing championship belts emblazoned with the logos of the IBF, IBO and WBA.

Based on that past success, he expected to be first to crack the Kazakh’s thunderous code. But once the fight began, it became clear that talking about beating Golovkin was much easier that actually doing it.

Geale was bleeding from the right eyelid by the end of the first round, and by the close of Round 2, he’d been floored by a clubbing right hand and returned to the corner with a face scraped pink by jabs.

Ultimately, the end arrived at 2:47 of the third and got the HBO broadcast team giddy with fever.

“I can’t think of anything else in sports right now that I'd rather see than a Gennady Golovkin fight,” said Max Kellerman, who’d compared Golovkin’s in-fight prowess to that of heavyweight legend Joe Louis.

“He continues to create demand. He’s the surest thing in pro sports.”

1. Martin Murray (TKO 11)

He’d tracked down boxers and outgunned sluggers, but what the few remaining Golovkin doubters wanted to see before signing off on the phenomenon was how he’d fare against a rugged 160-pounder who—like the smaller Ouma—could take him beyond the first few rounds.

Englishman Martin Murray was the prototype for the task.

The six-foot tall 32-year-old had won all but two of his initial 31 pro fights, and those non-victories—a draw against Felix Sturm in Germany and a decision loss to Sergio Martinez in Argentina—reeked as much of hometown hero worship as they did of Murray being truly outperformed by either man.

Ultimately, if Murray’s task was less about winning than it was about enduring, his was a mission accomplished. But when it came time to discern wins from losses, so, too, was Golovkin’s.

Other than smelling the rarefied air of the 11th round for the first time in a 32-fight career, there wasn’t much to distinguish the destruction of Murray from many of the first 31. Golovkin came forward with violent persistence, landed volleys of shots to precise spots and, by the time it was over, rendered Murray the latest in a line of “the best Golovkin has been in with” who were incapable of a real push.

Short of their arriving with a bazooka, it’s becoming difficult to imagine anyone being any different.