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Gennady Golovkin “Haters” Interview
By Przemek Garczarczyk
“The haters interview” idea is to put together as many constantly repeated negative comments and present them to people who are willing to actually answer them. “I always have a good answer for haters’ comments. Let’s clear some air,” said Tom Loeffler, K2 managing director and promoter of middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) when confronted with this idea. Here we go…
Hey GGG: you’re fighting a lot, it’s good, but when you will fight some real opponents?
TL: As soon as real opponents will agree to fight Gennady. The difference between Gennady and other champions is that GGG knocks people out. This is why other fighters, with something to risk, avoid him at all costs. Even with offers from HBO, their budget, we still are not able to get so-called “big names.” I think it will change this year. We see a lot of action in the middleweight division, we’ll see what will happen with Canelo. Short answer is – too much risk.
Tom Loeffler – you’re not paying GGG opponents enough to get big names!
TL: That’s completely untrue. Originally that was the excuse. A convenient excuse that Gennady was too much risk, not enough reward. His opponents now are the best paid middleweight fighters in the world outside PPV fights. We have to pay that kind of money to our opponents for then to just get into ring with him. HBO’s budget increased, ticket sales increased, sponsorship is strong. International TV – some of the best rating of any boxers in the world, so that excuse doesn’t apply anymore.
GGG, you don’t deserve to fight big name fighters! You’re not a PPV fighter!
TL: Not much more you can do than fighting in the main event in the main arena in Madison Square Garden in New York City and then selling out, highest ticket sales ever at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles. And now coming back to an even bigger arena in LA AND getting one of the highest TV ratings in the last few years. When GGG fought Murray, it drew the highest HBO rating of any international fight for the last three years. He has made 14 successful world title defenses, tying great Carlos Monzon and if he is successful Saturday night, that will be 15 title defenses. All these “not worthy” excuses are from three years ago. Because GGG brings his own fans, his fight with Cotto at the MSG would be one of the biggest events that could be held at The Garden. Same thing with Gennady-Canelo in Texas, in Dallas Stadium. Biggest fight possible.
Gennady – what’s the point of fighting Willie Monroe Jr, such a big underdog?
TL: I don’t really follow the odds. Many fighters said they will fight Gennady but always with an asterisk – “but not in the next fight.” I probably heard that from 20 different people. Willie Monroe Jr. is rated #2 by WBA, and he’s the southpaw that nobody wants to fight, actually willing to sign the contract. Our first priority was Cotto — if he would agree to fight Gennady in June in Madison Square Garden — then there would be absolutely no discussion. People, who are asking this question to GGG, need to ask Cotto why he’s fighting the guy that Gennady knocked out in third round last year.
All this “Mexican Style” talk – Gennady is trying to hijack other fighter’s supporters. This is why he moved his fights from the East Coast to the West Coast!
TL: We have such a big demand for Gennady to come to California. Our first priority was to build him in New York, media capitol of the world, but because of this demand it was a natural to do it in the October of last year at StubHub. The fight with Rubio made sense because he was WBC interim champion and this was the only way to corner Cotto and force him to fight Golovkin. Mexican Style? This is the style his trainer taught him in the last five years – this is not something we made up. It’s a fact. Gennady fights the Mexican Style. Abel (Sanchez) trained him to model his style after the great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, who was a great pressure fighter with great body shots and combinations. This is where this term comes from.
It’s natural that Mexican fans would appreciate Gennady’s style because the excitement it brings in the ring.
But this is not only about Mexican fans – his style is universal, captures everybody’s imagination. When he beat Proksa, he became very popular in Poland. After Macklin and Murray, the same happened in the UK. He’s very popular in Germany, getting one of the highest ratings from international fights. We always have one international fight on primetime television in Europe, because we don’t want to lose contact with his international supporters. One more – GGG is the only boxer who will headline a big arena in New York and is headlining a big arena in Los Angeles. After this fight on Saturday night, he will be highest ticket-selling boxer in the State of California over the last 2 years. A fighter from Kazakhstan. Think about that.
Gennady – you’re saying that you want to fight Andre Ward, but you demand the same or even more money. Just fight him if you think you’re so good!
TL: It became an irrelevant situation. Andre is fighting at 172 now. Andre approached me in Las Vegas, said that we were accusing him of ducking GGG – and this was never the case. Not in one interview I’ve ever given or Abel Sanchez has given, this was said. What we were saying is that first he was inactive because of his promotional situation but we all have a lot of respect for him, what he accomplished in the ring. I think he would have same problems Gennady had if he hadn’t been in the Super Six Tournament when the other fighters had to fight him. We tried to make a similar middleweight tournament on HBO, right after the Proksa fight, but all the other middleweights jumped out of the tournament when Gennady said yes.
Again – if there’s situation that makes sense, we can put that fight together. We all – GGG, Abel and me – are very interested. It just has to make financial sense. Andre Ward never fought on PPV and neither has Gennady. You need to build a big event in order to make that kind of event ever happen. If Andre continues with his winning ways – we all expect that – then we can build Golovkin-Ward into a big fight.
GGG – Listening to your promotional outfit, you’re a Rubber Man, fighting from 154 (Mayweather) to 170 (Ward). Can’t you decide who you are? Realistically?
TL: Gennady said that the only fighter he will go down to 154, would be Floyd Mayweather Jr. He could make 154, he’s a small middleweight – was about 159 his last few fights. He also said that he would go up in weight, to 168 – for Carl Froch, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Big fights only. But to be clear – his priority is to unify the middleweight division.
He enters the ring with “Seven Nation Army” – does he even know who sings the song?
Of course he knows! This is one of his favorite “The White Stripes” songs! For a long time and this is why he always walks in to the same tune. He appreciates the energy of the song, which leads to dramatic entrance to the arena. GGG pays attention to what people want – not only with the walk-in song. Notice the colors of his trunks – when he fought at the StubHub Center, he was wearing Dodger blue; against Murray in Monaco, he wear colors of this province and at The Forum on Saturday, Gennady will wear Lakers colors to honor the championship runs and the success the Lakers had at this place. Gennady wants to be with people. He was the first who walked through the crowd at The MSG Theater when he fought Curtis Stevens, walked around the ring at StubHub Center – which many fighters will never do. Fans really appreciate that. He knows that. He feels comfortable being one of them.
Gennady Golovkin “Haters” Interview
By Przemek Garczarczyk
“The haters interview” idea is to put together as many constantly repeated negative comments and present them to people who are willing to actually answer them. “I always have a good answer for haters’ comments. Let’s clear some air,” said Tom Loeffler, K2 managing director and promoter of middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) when confronted with this idea. Here we go…
Hey GGG: you’re fighting a lot, it’s good, but when you will fight some real opponents?
TL: As soon as real opponents will agree to fight Gennady. The difference between Gennady and other champions is that GGG knocks people out. This is why other fighters, with something to risk, avoid him at all costs. Even with offers from HBO, their budget, we still are not able to get so-called “big names.” I think it will change this year. We see a lot of action in the middleweight division, we’ll see what will happen with Canelo. Short answer is – too much risk.
Tom Loeffler – you’re not paying GGG opponents enough to get big names!
TL: That’s completely untrue. Originally that was the excuse. A convenient excuse that Gennady was too much risk, not enough reward. His opponents now are the best paid middleweight fighters in the world outside PPV fights. We have to pay that kind of money to our opponents for then to just get into ring with him. HBO’s budget increased, ticket sales increased, sponsorship is strong. International TV – some of the best rating of any boxers in the world, so that excuse doesn’t apply anymore.
GGG, you don’t deserve to fight big name fighters! You’re not a PPV fighter!
TL: Not much more you can do than fighting in the main event in the main arena in Madison Square Garden in New York City and then selling out, highest ticket sales ever at the StubHub Center in Los Angeles. And now coming back to an even bigger arena in LA AND getting one of the highest TV ratings in the last few years. When GGG fought Murray, it drew the highest HBO rating of any international fight for the last three years. He has made 14 successful world title defenses, tying great Carlos Monzon and if he is successful Saturday night, that will be 15 title defenses. All these “not worthy” excuses are from three years ago. Because GGG brings his own fans, his fight with Cotto at the MSG would be one of the biggest events that could be held at The Garden. Same thing with Gennady-Canelo in Texas, in Dallas Stadium. Biggest fight possible.
Gennady – what’s the point of fighting Willie Monroe Jr, such a big underdog?
TL: I don’t really follow the odds. Many fighters said they will fight Gennady but always with an asterisk – “but not in the next fight.” I probably heard that from 20 different people. Willie Monroe Jr. is rated #2 by WBA, and he’s the southpaw that nobody wants to fight, actually willing to sign the contract. Our first priority was Cotto — if he would agree to fight Gennady in June in Madison Square Garden — then there would be absolutely no discussion. People, who are asking this question to GGG, need to ask Cotto why he’s fighting the guy that Gennady knocked out in third round last year.
All this “Mexican Style” talk – Gennady is trying to hijack other fighter’s supporters. This is why he moved his fights from the East Coast to the West Coast!
TL: We have such a big demand for Gennady to come to California. Our first priority was to build him in New York, media capitol of the world, but because of this demand it was a natural to do it in the October of last year at StubHub. The fight with Rubio made sense because he was WBC interim champion and this was the only way to corner Cotto and force him to fight Golovkin. Mexican Style? This is the style his trainer taught him in the last five years – this is not something we made up. It’s a fact. Gennady fights the Mexican Style. Abel (Sanchez) trained him to model his style after the great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, who was a great pressure fighter with great body shots and combinations. This is where this term comes from.
It’s natural that Mexican fans would appreciate Gennady’s style because the excitement it brings in the ring.
But this is not only about Mexican fans – his style is universal, captures everybody’s imagination. When he beat Proksa, he became very popular in Poland. After Macklin and Murray, the same happened in the UK. He’s very popular in Germany, getting one of the highest ratings from international fights. We always have one international fight on primetime television in Europe, because we don’t want to lose contact with his international supporters. One more – GGG is the only boxer who will headline a big arena in New York and is headlining a big arena in Los Angeles. After this fight on Saturday night, he will be highest ticket-selling boxer in the State of California over the last 2 years. A fighter from Kazakhstan. Think about that.
Gennady – you’re saying that you want to fight Andre Ward, but you demand the same or even more money. Just fight him if you think you’re so good!
TL: It became an irrelevant situation. Andre is fighting at 172 now. Andre approached me in Las Vegas, said that we were accusing him of ducking GGG – and this was never the case. Not in one interview I’ve ever given or Abel Sanchez has given, this was said. What we were saying is that first he was inactive because of his promotional situation but we all have a lot of respect for him, what he accomplished in the ring. I think he would have same problems Gennady had if he hadn’t been in the Super Six Tournament when the other fighters had to fight him. We tried to make a similar middleweight tournament on HBO, right after the Proksa fight, but all the other middleweights jumped out of the tournament when Gennady said yes.
Again – if there’s situation that makes sense, we can put that fight together. We all – GGG, Abel and me – are very interested. It just has to make financial sense. Andre Ward never fought on PPV and neither has Gennady. You need to build a big event in order to make that kind of event ever happen. If Andre continues with his winning ways – we all expect that – then we can build Golovkin-Ward into a big fight.
GGG – Listening to your promotional outfit, you’re a Rubber Man, fighting from 154 (Mayweather) to 170 (Ward). Can’t you decide who you are? Realistically?
TL: Gennady said that the only fighter he will go down to 154, would be Floyd Mayweather Jr. He could make 154, he’s a small middleweight – was about 159 his last few fights. He also said that he would go up in weight, to 168 – for Carl Froch, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Big fights only. But to be clear – his priority is to unify the middleweight division.
He enters the ring with “Seven Nation Army” – does he even know who sings the song?
Of course he knows! This is one of his favorite “The White Stripes” songs! For a long time and this is why he always walks in to the same tune. He appreciates the energy of the song, which leads to dramatic entrance to the arena. GGG pays attention to what people want – not only with the walk-in song. Notice the colors of his trunks – when he fought at the StubHub Center, he was wearing Dodger blue; against Murray in Monaco, he wear colors of this province and at The Forum on Saturday, Gennady will wear Lakers colors to honor the championship runs and the success the Lakers had at this place. Gennady wants to be with people. He was the first who walked through the crowd at The MSG Theater when he fought Curtis Stevens, walked around the ring at StubHub Center – which many fighters will never do. Fans really appreciate that. He knows that. He feels comfortable being one of them.
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