Gennady Golovkin: The Boogie Man of the Middleweight Division

Boxingnews24.com

By Dimond Dallas: With his toughest test just around the corner, the Boxing world is all buzzing about the Boxing Machine from Kazakhstan. Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin, more affectionately known quite simply as just Triple G to his ever growing legions of fans, has been a man on a mission in the last few years. With a single minded focus on unifying all the titles in the middleweight division, he has set out to cement his name in history books as one of the all time greats. And with just the smallest portion of the world title out of his grasp he seems truly set to achieve his goal. But another interesting trend has emerged of late…

This trend is a sad development in which people would obtusely challenge Golovkin or at the very least show a very keen interest in taking him on when their own fights are announced and then again when promoting the said fights. Even if not to outright challenge him then they seek to either put him down or try and brush Golovkin and his accomplishments aside. But when it comes to actually taking him on, he becomes like the Boogieman of lore that no is willing to accept they’re scared of but then they go out of their ways to try and avoid every crossing paths with him…

That’s what we saw when one of the marquee names of the Super middleweight division in Carl Froch of all the people show a keenness to take on the man they called Triple G but nothing ever came of it with Froch walking off into the sunset after the second time he bested Grooves. Froch had always been a fighting champion but his intent to retire seemed genuine and so perhaps he should not be clubbed with the rest of those that dodge the dreaded boogieman who haunts all the title holder at middleweight, even scaring one to famously drop his belt than face him. You all know who I mean.

Then there is the stories of how the now Light heavyweight champion Andre Ward wanting to face Golovkin have taken a life of their own with Ward famously remarking that he would be the more established a name and hence the coveted ‘A-Side’. But nothing, absolutely nothing compares to the shenanigans of one Mr. Saul Alvarez, more affectionately know as Canelo to his own ever growing legions of fans.

Indeed there was a time when Canelo was being touted as the next big thing to emerge in Boxing… the Oscar de la Hoya of his generation, the man who will replace Money Mayweather, the next big PPV king… not much, if any, of that has been fulfilled. There is an inherent charisma to the one they call Canelo, there is no denying that. Indeed nothing matches on Golovkin’s record when compared to that of Canelo, with Canelo having taken on the likes of Mayweather albeit in a losing effort but his wins over Cotto and Lara, however dubious, do help him in his claim for greatness. Indeed his upcoming fight against Chavez, Jr. is his toughest test yet. Not as skilled as Mayweather, as awkward as Lara or with the speed of Khan but what Chavez, Jr. bring to the table is his sheer ability to just run thru someone like Canelo. Whether that actually happens or not depends as much on the controversial catch-weight clause as it does on anything else. Indeed its curious that of all the things that Canelo and his team could’ve picked up from Floyd Money Mayweather and his Money Team, this concept of catch-weight is what they chose to replicate.

But be that as it may, even now amidst the fanfare surrounding his upcoming fight, Canelo also doest mind ignoring the opponent in front and keep bringing up Golovkin’s name. With little to suggest that either Canelo himself or anyone else in his team genuinely want the match against Golovkin, this just seem like another pitiable effort by just another fighter to promote himself and his fight by just playing with the intrest that the casual fans might have shown at the possibility for a fight between the two.

Even someone like Manny Pacquiao, who even on his best day should not go beyond imagining him having any chance against someone like GGG, has gone on record to claim that he might consider taking on GGG in a boxing match. He was obviously just using Triple G’s name just to drum up the excitement around his next match and lets face it, Pacquiao’s match-ups have only had the interest in them fallen since his fall from the grace against Mayweather. Indeed with his own possible ‘Super-fight’ looming large with Connor McGregor expect the name Gennady Golovkin to be tossed around pretty liberally the their press conferences.

This Saturday we’ll get to see a exciting bout between two of the very best the middleweight division has to offer. Golovkin has found himself in the unique position of being so good that he has managed to run thru everyone they put in front of him and along the way pick up all but one of the world titles… Jacobs is a talented fighter himself who finally has his break-thru moment when he takes on the feared Golovkin so this does promise to be a great bout. In a world where the likes of Saunders and Canelo are unwilling to take on Triple G for whatever reasons, this is the best fight there is in the middleweight division and I for one am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to the aftermath even more.