The most impressive force in boxing right now has to be Gennady Golovkin, retaining his WBA and IBO Middleweight titles with an impressive, third round TKO win over Daniel Geale, a former champion himself, and putting himself in a better position to get that big fight against Miguel Cotto or someone of that liking in the near future.
Golovkin’s biggest problem? He’s too good, too scary at the moment, without having the appeal in the United States to get himself that big fight with a big pay day he’s looking for. Geale has had a nice career, but he’s certainly not elite – not anymore, and never was. Golovkin had no problem knocking down Geale in the second round and then again in the third before the fight was stopped by the official, as Geale couldn’t get solid footing after getting up for a second time.
Golovkin was aggressive as usual, throwing his combinations of right hands and left hooks, a storm Geale was unable to avoid. Both fighters connected on only 29% of their punches, but there was no comparing the amount and force Golovkin connected with compared to Geale, who really looked under-qualified for this fight right from the first bell ring, losing for the second time in three fights.
Golovkin said after the fight he wants to see Cotto facing him. The problem for him? Cotto might be now a Middleweight fighter, but his ambitions include going head to head with Saul Alvarez. There’s too much money involved in that fight to let a dangerous bout against Golovkin get in the way. Maybe it’ll be both Cotto or Alvarez who are on the shortlist, if indeed things are getting better between Top Rank and Golden Boy. But both fighters will hope to avoid the 30-year old Kazakh until they get their big fight underway.
Most people believe that there is no better fighter at 160 or 168 than Golovkin right now, except for maybe Andre Ward. His list of opponents may not be very impressive, but he has now won 17 consecutive fights in a knockout and has the highest knockout win percentage among all title holders in boxing, improving his record to 30-0-0 with 27 knockouts.
I am very happy and now I only want unification fights. I want Miguel Cotto. I want to fight Miguel Cotto and I want to fight him next. I want prove to the world that without a doubt that I am the best middleweight in the world. That is very important to me.
The problem for Golovkin? He’s too good, too quick and too strong right now for the best fighters in this weight class to consider stepping in the ring with him, another one of Boxing’s biggest problems.