By Edward Chaykovsky

Abel Sanchez, the trainer of WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25KOs), said top contender Curtis Stevens was much tougher than they expected. Golovkin stopped him in eight rounds at the Theather in New York's Madison Square Garden. Golovkin dropped Stevens hard in the second round and the end appeared to be near, but the Brooklyn boxer fought back and landed several of his hard power shots as the rounds continued to play out.

"Stevens was tougher than we thought he was going to be," said Sanchez. "There are still things we need to work on as far as Gennady's patience and setting up his punches, but the good part is we got the win and have stuff to work on."