There aren’t that many big fights possible to make in the middleweight division, but there’s no doubt that best of them should be Gennady Golovkin, fresh of retaining his WBA and IBO titles against Matthew Macklin, fighting against the man regarded as the class of the division for the last few years, Sergio Martinez.
Macklin is someone Martinez actually faced last year, winning after getting knocked down in the seventh round, beginning an impressive late-fight comeback, eventually winning with an 11th round TKO.
Macklin vs Golovkin? Not even close. The 31-year old Kazakh who began his professional career only 7 years ago and fought in the United States for the first time in 2012 was in control from the first moment, eventually winning in the third round with a vicious body shot that sent Macklin to the canvas.
He’s the best I ever fought. He never really let me get started. It was a great shot he landed. The left hook to the body is personally one of my favorites. I tip my hat to him. He’s a great champion. He has clubbing, solid power, and you can feel the weight of every punch he throws.
That’s coming from a man who has fought with Felix Strum (probably beating him, but still losing on the scorecards in a very controversial decision), and with Sergio Martinez, giving Marvailla a very tough fight, one of his hardest wins ever.
Martinez hasn’t looked very impressive lately. He almost lost the fight to Julio Cesar Chavez Junior in the 12th round after dominating for 11, and he wasn’t very impressive in his Argentina-based win over Martin Murray.
Yes, Martinez wants to make money during his final fights before finally retiring, and Golovkin might be a high risk, low reward kind of fight. But what is there left? Andre Ward? Something tells me that Ward, who’ll probably need to drop from Super Middleweight to an agreed catchweight to get a chance at either Martinez or Golovkin, isn’t going to be easy to seal a deal with, especially once he signs a contract with Top Rank.
Ward is the bigger payday, but not by much. The 29-year old Super Middleweight champion isn’t a PPV monster, not even close. Martinez doesn’t really have that many options in front of him. When it comes to money, Ward will probably be the bigger payday. When it comes to better chances of winning, Golovkin is likely to give him the better odds of coming out with another win, but not by much.
Golovkin is 27-0, 24 of those wins coming by knockout. He has won his last 15 fights without the need of using the scorecards. He clearly deserves a shot at a big name, and he’s probably looking for one. The problem is, those that are left are possibly slightly fearing stepping in the ring with him.
It was an easy fight for me. I felt great in the ring. He never hurt me. I was very happy with my performance. I want to fight again very soon. I want to fight any belt-holder, any champion, and any top fighter, anywhere.