By Radio Rahim
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach believes IBF/IBO/WBC/WBA middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs) may need a dramatic leap in weight to get more recognition from the boxing public.
Pacquiao made a similar dramatic move back in 2008, when he jumped from 135 to 147 to retire Oscar De La Hoya in a high profile pay-per-view. The victory made Pacquaio an instant superstar and a pay-per-view attraction.
Golovkin is getting a lot of respect, but at 34-years-old he's not a pay-per-view attraction and some fans are not sold on his level of competition.
If Golovkin headed up to 175, to face the likes of Sergey Kovalev, Andre Ward and Adonis Stevenson, that might open a lot of eyeballs.
"I still think Triple G is still the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Everybody says he hasn't beaten anybody, but he's beaten everyone that's there. There's not a lot of competition in that weight division it seems like. I think he might have to go up to 175 to get more recognition," Roach said.
Last month, Golovkin stopped IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in five rounds at the O2 Arena in London. Brook moved up by thirteen pounds to take the fight. Roach warns that Golovkin needs to tighten up his defense and not draw opponents in by allowing them to land clean shots.
"I think that he's a very good fighter. Thought he fought well in that fight. I thought it was a decent fight. His defense isn't as great as I thought it was. He does get hit a little bit more. I know his trainer says that he gets hit on purpose to draw the guy in. And back in the day you might do that. My father used to tell me that his trainer would teach him to do that, in 1947 and stuff like that. But I don't think its in today's market to take punches to draw a guy in like that and get him closer so you could knock him out," Roach said.
