HBO kicks off its year-end “HBO Boxing's Best Of…” series with a triple feature Saturday, December 27. The showing kicks off a four-night stretch where HBO replays eight select bouts from its 2014 season. Saturday’s edition airs at 11:30pm ET/PT, featuring two of the biggest stars in the sport today - Manny Pacquiao and Gennady Golovkin – in three separate bouts.
Promoter Reginaldo Kuchle returned to Juarez, but before doing so he expressed his feelings about Marco Antonio Rubio's knockout loss to Gennady Golovkin in their recent middleweight unification in Carson, California. Rubio was caught in the second round and went down for the count. When Rubio went down, most observers felt his senses were in order as he allowed the referee to count him out. Rubio complained afterwards, stating the referee gave him a fast count. Rubio also confirmed his senses were in order and the punch that caught him was not that hard. Golovkin himself was surprised Rubio was counted out by the punch that clipped him.
The newly crowned interim-World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion, Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28KOs), is going to hit Mexico next month to official receive his green and gold belt. Already the WBA/IBO champion, he picked up the WBC interim last Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, with a second round knockout of champion Marco Antonio Rubio. Golovkin now becomes the mandatory challenger to full champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico.
Gennady Golovkin had more competition from other sports than he did in the ring, yet still managed to score with viewers. The unbeaten middleweight looked every bit the 60-1 favorite over Marco Antonio Rubio, scoring a 2nd round knockout in their Oct. 18 headliner in front of a sold-out StubHub Center in Carson, California. Despite going up head-to-head with a down-to-the-wire college football thriller, the blowout managed to register 1.3 million viewers, with an average of 908,000 households on first live viewing. The 1.3 million overall average viewership is good for the second highest rated fight of 2014, right behind Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's rematch win over Bryan Vera in March.
Former four division world champion and HBO expert analyst Roy Jones Jr. has his doubts about Marco Antonio Rubio's desire to continue in Saturday's second round knockout loss to WBA/IBO/WBC interim-champion Gennady Golovkin. After taking a shot to the top of the head, Rubio went down in the second. Although Rubio appeared to have his senses in order, he failed to beat the count of ten. Afterwards, Rubio confirmed that he wasn't seriously hurt from the punch and aggressively complained that referee Jack Reiss prematurely stopped the fight with a fast count.
StubHub Center, Carson, California - WBA/IBO/WBC interim-middleweight champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin landed 54% of his power shots to score a second round knockout over Mexican veteran Marco Antonio Rubio. Two questions for Rubio, who rehydrated to 181 lbs.: did you even try to make weight? and did you try to beat the count?
Radio Rahim catches up with WBA/IBO/WBC interim-middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to discuss his second round knockout of Mexican veteran Marco Antonio Rubio in their HBO televised main event from the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Golovkin talks about the KO win over Rubio, what he desires to do in 2015, whether his feared power is making it tough to get opponents and whether the short knockout wins is affecting his ability to gain the experience of going many rounds.
StubHub Center, Carson, California - Radio Rahim catches the post fight press conference for the WBA/IBO/WBC interim-middleweight showdown between Gennady Golovkin and Marco Antonio Rubio, who battled in an HBO televised main event. Hear from Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions. They discuss the second round knockout of Rubio, the future for Golovkin's career in 2015, potential targets and the desire to have a pay-per-view showdown, and more.
StubHub, Carson, California - Radio Rahim catches up with former WBO junior welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov to get his ringside opinion and breakdown of Gennady "GGG" Golovkin's second round demolition of Mexican veteran Marco Antonio Rubio to retain the IBO/WBA middleweight championships. The victory also gave Golovkin the WBC's interim title and appointed him as the mandatory challenger to full WBC king Miguel Cotto.
WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28KOs) knew the end was near when he stopped Marco Antonio Rubio in the second round Saturday night, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Golovkin landed a left hand to the forehead and Rubio dropped down to the canvas and couldn't get up in time, with the referee waving things off and the Mexican boxer's record dropping down to 59-7-1.