By Victor Salazar
New York - IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33 KO’s) is traditionally a very busy fight, but in 2016 he only saw action on two occasions. The norm for Golovkin was at least three to four fights a year.
Last year, Golovkin's two fights consisted of a two round knockout of Dominic Wade and forcing a stoppage on IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in five rounds.
Spring forward to 2017, Golovkin has fight one already on the calendar - an HBO Pay-Per-View showdown with Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KO’s) on March 18th from New York's Madison Square Garden.
Abel Sanchez, the trainer for Golovkin, is not concerned with his boxer's lack of action playing a role in the upcoming return.
“I’m not worried about the ring rust,” Sanchez told BoxingScene.com. “There are worries because he was consistently fighting three to four times a year. If there are any worries it’ll be is because he’s facing a guy that is a legitimate threat, but on the other hand it makes Golovkin more motivated. It makes him more wanting to show the world how great he is.”
Golovkin is considered to be the biggest puncher in the division. Jacobs was knocked out twelve fights ago by Dmitry Pirog and three fights ago he was dropped by light punching Sergio Mora. However, Sanchez doesn’t view either occurrence as a testament to Jacobs’ chin.
“Mora’s an ex-champion and very good fighter,” stated the trainer. “I think it was an off-balance shot. I thought he also could have continued against Pirog. I think Robert Byrd is holding him down while Danny is talking to him and by talking to him he’s awake - but they didn’t let him continue.”
“Somebody’s going out in this fight. Both guys have over a 90 percent KO ratio. Whoever hits whoever first with a good shot is going to knock the other out and win this fight. Both guys are good finishers.”
A lot of criticism was pointed to the way Golovkin got hit in some of his recent fights. In some of Golovkin's defenses, he intentionally allowed opponents to tag him with punches. Sanchez feels Golovkin lost focus in those fights because he knew he was winning handily. The veteran trainer strongly assures that Golovkin will not, under any circumstances, play around with Jacobs in the same manner.
“In the Brook fight, I think after he hurt him in the first round he played with him a little bit, the focus was lost and he had no urgency kind of how it was with Monroe and Wade. I think Danny is a different animal. You won’t see Golovkin do that because Danny can end the fight with one punch.”
