By Jake Donovan
There’s a lot to love about Gennady Golovkin. The unbeaten middleweight titlist has been a knockout every time out, with 18 straight stoppage wins dating back to 2008.
What has made the 31-year old Kazakhstani so endearing to boxing fans is not just his love for an early ending, but that he loves to perform the task as often as possible. Frequent fighting is a lost art in an era when fighters making two ring appearances per year are considered to be kept active.
The blueprint for Golovkin, however, has proven to be a huge hit with boxing fans. Saturday night will mark his 7th HBO appearance in 17 months – a period that also includes two more fights aired outside of U.S. coverage – as he takes on Top 10 contender Martin Murray. The bout takes place at Salle des Étoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where Golovkin appears for the third time in as many years.
Tonight’s fight marks his first of 2015, one that will return to past form with the intention of fighting at least once per season.
“Providing all goes well (tonight) versus Martin Murray, the idea is to bring him back as early as the schedule allows,” notes Tom Loeffler, Managing Director of K2 Promotions. “It could be May, it could be June. It would depend on the level of the opponent and the best format for the fight. From there, that leaves six months to fight two more times for four on the year.
“Gennady was able to fight four times in 2013. The plan was to replicate that activity in 2014, but wasn’t possible due to the unfortunate passing of his father. This will be his third fight since last July and we intend to keep fighting at least every 3-4 months.”
Golovkin (31-0, 28KOs) last fought in October, stopping Marco Antonio Rubio in two rounds. The bout with Murray (29-1-1, 12KOs) serves as his 13th defense of his version of the middleweight title he won in 2010.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
