Serious question... how did Golovkin's popularity rise so fast?

[HeroBando]

He's beating and destroying all time greats like 5'7" Curtis Stevens, and Gabriel "The Terminator" Rosado

Why would a Tyson fan put down another guy for being short for his weight class? Amazing lack of self reflection. That's like those RJJ fans that **** on Pac for PED suspicions

[Citizen Koba]

Good Lord. Only 3,000!?

He's a definite crossover star in K'stan though, and they'll also be a load of temporary US residents (mainly students etc) who woulda come 'cos of his popularity there. I guess also his half Russian ethnicity makes him popular with the Russian/ex soviet US population. Sadly also there'll be the straight up racists looking for a top white boxer.

Mainly I think though it's just his fan friendly style with the aggression which always seems to end in a stoppage combined with some real heavy marketing by HBO.

I think the US has caught on to the fact that they can pick up the EE ex-ams at bargain basement prices, they tend to have aggressive styles (as this is a virtual necessity in the old am scoring system) and are already highly experienced at least in the amateur sport.

[Citizen Koba]

Stevens and Rosado >>> Holmes and Spinks

Until he fought Berbick (his 28th fight -about where GGG is now) Mike actually had arguably a worse resume than ggg. Given the fact that the HW division in 1986 was considerably deeper than MW is now (ie there were more top guys out there to fight) it's hard to argue that Mikes pre-step up record of 27(25)-0-0 is more impressive than GGGs 28(25)-0-0 at present.

That said, there's no Berbick, Smith or Pinklon Thomas to really step up to in todays MW division. There's just Sergio, unless Golovkin moves up to 168.

[Pain~Lucy]

Sure he's knocking people out... but only one KO this year had been on HBO, the other being in Monaco. Rosado was just a one sided beat down as well as Stevens. Proksa was last year and a couple of months removed from his Rosado fight

How the hell did he go from the lowest ratings to one of the highest for HBO?

Like somebody said earlier... he doesn't have the same exciting style as Pacquio who's quick and throws flurries. He doesn't have the same ethnic following Canelo has with the Mexicans considering their presence here in the U.S and Mexico being right below the U.S.

He comes forward and beats ass... how the hell did he get so popular so fast? There are plenty of other fighters who come forward and beat ass too and they're not pulling in these kind of numbers.

I don't know how big the Kazakh ethnicity is in the U.S, but unless it's huge, I don't see it being a huge driving force.

How the hell is this happening?

jealous people talks about him so much, know what im saying????

[croz]

ireland

suprisingly a guy even knew his signature punch, the left hook to the liver

Boxing has a good fan base in Ireland. Surprised you heard about GGG but it's not unusual to hear people talking about the Irish or UK scene.

[croz]

Until he fought Berbick (his 28th fight -about where GGG is now) Mike actually had arguably a worse resume than ggg. Given the fact that the HW division in 1986 was considerably deeper than MW is now (ie there were more top guys out there to fight) it's hard to argue that Mikes pre-step up record of 27(25)-0-0 is more impressive than GGGs 28(25)-0-0 at present.

That said, there's no Berbick, Smith or Pinklon Thomas to really step up to in todays MW division. There's just Sergio, unless Golovkin moves up to 168.

Dude, today's middle weight division includes Jr, middle and super ... then some LHWs. It's an incredibly packed division.

[Hougigo]

Love to see GGG fight a top 3 fighter in the Middleweight and Super Middleweight Division. Mike Tyson dominated the heavyweight division in the 1980's, and he won the all the titles including the Lineal Championship.

I hope we'll see that next year.... but as it looks right now probably not

[bklynboy]

nobody wanna say it, but i will. hbo and the rest of the white boxing fans have given up hope on having a good white boxer. then, this guy comes along. that's all it is-- a white hype.

You know - 30 years ago you might have a point. But now. It sounds pretty racist (on your end) to me.

The heavyweight champion(s) of the world for the last 10 years have been white and not a peep. (Which is the way it should be.) Let's not get into a discussion of how good the Ks are compared to past greats. I've been very critical of them. This is a discussion about race. US whites, HBO and others have not flocked to the Ks side due to race. Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't there other white middleweights and super middleweights over the last 10 years? Let's see:

Pavlik, Zbik, Sturm, Geale, Abraham, Sylvester, Barker come to mind. Oh, and what about Ottke, Calzaghe, Bute, Froch, Kessler and others.

GGGs race is in your mind.

[King_]

You know - 30 years ago you might have a point. But now. It sounds pretty racist (on your end) to me.

The heavyweight champion(s) of the world for the last 10 years have been white and not a peep. (Which is the way it should be.) Let's not get into a discussion of how good the Ks are compared to past greats. I've been very critical of them. This is a discussion about race. US whites, HBO and others have not flocked to the Ks side due to race. Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't there other white middleweights and super middleweights over the last 10 years? Let's see:

Pavlik, Zbik, Sturm, Geale, Abraham, Sylvester, Barker come to mind. Oh, and what about Ottke, Calzaghe, Bute, Froch, Kessler and others.

GGGs race is in your mind.

That post was so silly it didn't or doesn't even deserve a serious response.

[Mojita]

Being one of the most feared and ducked fighters of all time has it's perks. Everyone talks about him when he's not around and act proper in his presence. It's part of the game kid

Like how Williams, Matthyse were feared and ducked right?

GGG might get lacy'd one day and then BS will say he was always overhyped and a bum. It's a never ending circle here. So enjoy the GGG train soon it'll end up like the ones I just mentioned.