Gennady Golovkin Ready to Rule Boxing as the Anti-Mayweather After Lemieux KO
During Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s long reign as boxing's pound-for-pound king, fans seemed to deflate after every big event. Mayweather, with his cocky Technicolor persona and reality-television bravado, was great at building interest. When it came time to deliver, however, he was more likely to avoid a fight than start one.
Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KO), who stopped David Lemieux in eight rounds Saturday night to add another title belt to his growing collection, is a different kind of king.
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While Mayweather was the master of negating his opponent's every move, Golovkin is perhaps the world's best at taking the center of the ring and never letting it go. Mayweather was more than happy to cruise to a decision, allowing an overmatched opponent to stick around and see the fight to the end. Golovkin, in turn, has violence in his heart. He's willing to take a punch in order to deliver one, confident his will take the bigger toll.
Boxing, at its best, is the ultimate combination of pomp and martial prowess, a gaudy spectacle that also happens to reveal character, bravery and willpower like no other sport. We've come to expect our great fighters to leave a piece of themselves in the ring, to risk much in exchange for immortality.
Golovkin is willing to live up to his end of the bargain in a way Mayweather, despite his greatness, never would.
"I told you this [is] my very important fight," Golovkin told HBO's Max Kellerman in his charming broken English after the fight. "I'm very happy. I give my friends, my fans, big, big show. Big event."
| Fighter | Total Punches | Percentage | Power Shots | Percentage |
| Gennady Golovkin | 280/549 | 51% | 110/190 | 58% |
| David Lemieux | 89/335 | 27% | 54//144 | 38% |
The partisan crowd of 20,548 at Madison Square Garden would have forgiven Golovkin almost anything. They chanted his name in the early going as he took firm control of the match with a crisp jab. He likely could have continued on that path for 12 rounds. It would have been expedient and smart. It's what Mayweather would have done.
But that just isn't in Golovkin's DNA as a fighter. Lemieux's only route to victory was landing a powerful left hook or a straight right hand. Golovkin took them both and never flinched, landing his own leg-quivering left to the body in return, dropping Lemieux to his knees in the fifth round.
Golovkin's is a quiet power, a martial-arts-movie death touch that takes several seconds to wreak its havoc on an opponent's synapses. Even so, it was ugly enough that referee Steve Willis was visibly grimacing each time Lemieux's stylized hair flopped from side to side. Golovkin's is the kind of punch that makes a man reconsider his vocation.
Or, at least, reconsider fighting Golovkin.
"This level of middleweight simply can't test him," Kellerman opined after the bout. "Can't put him in the kind of fight where we're really going to find out about his heart, his chin, his will to win, his mettle, his championship stuff."
For several years, with HBO's backing, promoter Tom Loeffler has attempted to get the sport's biggest names to dare to be great, to rise to the challenge against the most fearsome fighter in the world. To step into the ring with Golovkin.
None have been up to the task. Every top fighter at 154 and 160 pounds suddenly gets very interested in their phone when Golovkin's name is mentioned.
This is his greatest challenge as Golovkin attempts to assume Mayweather's mantle. "Pretty Boy" became "Money" when the sport's biggest name at the time, Oscar De La Hoya, took a big chance by allowing Mayweather to prove himself in the ring in 2007.
The win, and subsequent victories against the likes of Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, secured Mayweather's position at the top of the boxing ladder. Stars make stars. And, so far, the boxing establishment has walled off the sport's few remaining bright lights, far removed from Golovkin's grasp.
"I'm [a] boxer. I'm not [a] businessman," Golovkin said. "I want all the belts. Look, I have four belts!"
The move to pay-per-view, Golovkin's first, is an attempt to level the economic playing field. On rare occasions, a fighter can establish himself as a drawing card without beating an established star. Mike Tyson did it at heavyweight with a string of highlight-worthy knockouts. With 21 knockouts in a row of his own, Golovkin is slowly making a similar case.
His next fight should be against the winner of the Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez clash, which is set to take place Nov. 21. That win would solidify his case as the top fighter in the middleweight class, unifying the championship and making him the true heir to Marvin Hagler and Bernard Hopkins.
Nothing else will do.
Whatever happens next, it best happen fast. At 33, Golovkin is in his absolute prime. He might even be the best fighter in the world. It would be a shame if we never got to find out.
Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report.
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