Sanchez Adjusts Golovkin's Sparring Schedule For Jacobs Fight

By Steve Kim

It's now less than a month before Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) defends his IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight belts against mandatory challenger Danny Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) from the Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The HBO Pay-Per-View fight is scheduled for March 18th and while the undefeated Golovkin has been up at the Summit in Big Bear for a couple of months with trainer Abel Sanchez, it's just recently that he started sparring.

With Golovkin - who's just a few months shy of 35 - being a veteran of the sport with hundreds of amateur bouts under his belt, Sanchez has pared down this aspect of training recently.

"In the last six fights I've only sparred him 75 rounds, nine days total we spar for the fight," said Sanchez from his gym in Big Bear.

"He spars hard, he spars when he's ready to spar. He doesn't spar to get into shape or to lose weight so the nine days we get the most out of it."

The likes of super middleweight contender David Benavides have made the trek up the mountain to get in some work with 'GGG'.

"By the ninth day he's sparring, he's ready to go. He's anxious to go," says Sanchez.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.