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By Cliff Rold - It was the sort of performance that gets a million Twitters aflutter.
Faced with what was the most accomplished opponent of his career, 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO) did what he does. He won.
By knockout.
If it had been reported that Matthew Macklin was rendered spleen-less by the body shot that ended his night, few would have disputed. Golovkin, so far, has the sort of power boxing lovers have been able to create myth from for years.
Remember the one about Roberto Duran knocking out a horse? Maybe it was true; maybe it wasn’t. It was Duran so it didn’t sound too far-fetched. Golovkin may be headed that way.
Maybe.
In the aftermath of his latest win, speculation about who Golovkin could beat, and who he couldn’t, is aflame. Already fantasy matchmaking pits him against leading Super Middleweight titlist Carl Froch and World Super Middleweight Champion Andre Ward. The latter makes sense given HBO’s not-so-subtle attempts at a long game ending with a megabucks Ward-Golovkin fight.
Fans who recall the build to Roy Jones-James Toney in the early 90s will recognize the template being used here. As early as his win over Glen Wolfe in 1993, Jones was being asked about Toney in HBO post-fight interviews. Jones hadn’t even won a title yet at Middleweight and Toney was already off to the Super Middleweight class after a wildly (minus the Dave Tiberi robbery) successful run as Middleweight king.
Jones waited, beating a then largely unheralded Bernard Hopkins for the belt Toney left vacant and defending it once along with some non-title fare to build to the big one. The intended destination, Ward-Golovkin, is obvious.
It is tantalizing enough to almost forget something important.
Gennady Golovkin might look like the best Middleweight in the world, but for now it’s still just a look.
Prior to last weekend, it was hard to find many legitimate Middleweight contenders on the Golovkin dossier. Sure, he has a WBA belt, but the WBA belt gives out more belts than brothels give out smiles. Opponents matter. Now that Macklin has been made one with the floor, a critical objection to the Golovkin hype bubble is removed. [Click Here To Read More]
Faced with what was the most accomplished opponent of his career, 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO) did what he does. He won.
By knockout.
If it had been reported that Matthew Macklin was rendered spleen-less by the body shot that ended his night, few would have disputed. Golovkin, so far, has the sort of power boxing lovers have been able to create myth from for years.
Remember the one about Roberto Duran knocking out a horse? Maybe it was true; maybe it wasn’t. It was Duran so it didn’t sound too far-fetched. Golovkin may be headed that way.
Maybe.
In the aftermath of his latest win, speculation about who Golovkin could beat, and who he couldn’t, is aflame. Already fantasy matchmaking pits him against leading Super Middleweight titlist Carl Froch and World Super Middleweight Champion Andre Ward. The latter makes sense given HBO’s not-so-subtle attempts at a long game ending with a megabucks Ward-Golovkin fight.
Fans who recall the build to Roy Jones-James Toney in the early 90s will recognize the template being used here. As early as his win over Glen Wolfe in 1993, Jones was being asked about Toney in HBO post-fight interviews. Jones hadn’t even won a title yet at Middleweight and Toney was already off to the Super Middleweight class after a wildly (minus the Dave Tiberi robbery) successful run as Middleweight king.
Jones waited, beating a then largely unheralded Bernard Hopkins for the belt Toney left vacant and defending it once along with some non-title fare to build to the big one. The intended destination, Ward-Golovkin, is obvious.
It is tantalizing enough to almost forget something important.
Gennady Golovkin might look like the best Middleweight in the world, but for now it’s still just a look.
Prior to last weekend, it was hard to find many legitimate Middleweight contenders on the Golovkin dossier. Sure, he has a WBA belt, but the WBA belt gives out more belts than brothels give out smiles. Opponents matter. Now that Macklin has been made one with the floor, a critical objection to the Golovkin hype bubble is removed. [Click Here To Read More]
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