Gennady Golovkin vs. Steve Rolls: A new chapter

Boxing247.com

In less than two weeks, former IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) will be facing unbeaten fringe contender Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) in a 12 round fight on DAZN on June 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Golovkin and Rolls will be fighting at a catch-weight at 164 pounds on June 8. Rolls, 35, is from Toronto, Canada, and has good punching power. What he doesn’t have is experience against top level opposition. If Rolls had been with a different promoter, he probably would have been fighting world class opposition many years ago instead of him now fighting for the first time against a top level fighter. Up until now, the best name on Rolls’ 10-year resume is journeyman KeAndrae Leatherwood. It’s kind of baffling how Rolls was able to go through 10 years as a pro without fighting one contender. Oh well, fans won’t be able to say that about Rolls after June 8th. Still, you’d like to have seen Rolls have experience under his belt before facing someone like Golovkin. This fight is more of a tune-up level job for GGG than one that is meant to be competitive. Rolls was picked out of the pile. The other two fighters that were under consideration for Golovkin were Hassan N’Dam and Kamil Szeremeta. Rolls is pretty much on the same level as those guys. You can argue that Rolls is probably a less talented fighter than those two, but he’s close to that level.

“You can call it a restart, a new approach, a new atmosphere is now in the team, a new view for everything,” Golovkin said about his switch from trainer Abel Sanchez to Johnathon Banks for his fight on June 8 against Steve Rolls.

Banks learned under legendary coach Emmanuel Steward out of his Kronk Gym in Detroit. A lot of the knowledge that Steward had as a trainer was passed on to Banks, who will be looking to make improvements in Golovkin’s if he can get him to follow his instructions.

This is a new chapter in the career of the 37-year-old GGG, as he’ll be fighting for the first time on DAZN. It’ll also be the first fight for Golovkin with new trainer Johnahon Banks in his corner. Golovkin is no longer with his long time trainer Abel Sanchez, who he parted ways with recently. A lot has been said about this, but Golovkin is at the level in his career where he’ll do well no matter who trains him. Golovkin arguably beat Canelo twice, but found out the hard way how difficult it is to beat the ‘face of boxing.’ Banks has ideas of improving Golovkin by having him throw more punches. That could work for him against Canelo, because he had the Mexican star tuckered out in the second half of both of their fights when he started pressing him. Golovkin made the mistake of fighting at too slow of a pace in the first six rounds against Canelo in both of their fights. It’s the same mistake Daniel Jacobs made against Canelo earlier this month on May 4. Jacobs waited until the second half of the contest to start taking the fight to Canelo. By then, Jacobs was too far behind in the contest to come all the way back to win. But he exposed Canelo for his poor stamina.

“What goes through a fighter’s mind is unimaginable for a lot of people,” said Banks. “It’s hard to explain. A fighter has to make decisions that they’re going to have to live with for the rest of their life.”

It would help if Banks can get Golovkin to attack more, and throw more punches in his fights. He’s gotten into the habit of waiting too long. This has enabled fighters like Canelo Alvarez to get a lot of rest breaks to set up his counter shots. When Golovkin was attacking Canelo nonstop in the second half of both of his fights with him, he did well. Banks wants to make GGG a busier fighter. Whether he can do that is hard to predict. Golovkin is set in his ways, and might stick to his slow approach to fighting, which means he’s going to have problems when/if he faces Canelo in a trilogy fight in September.

“I cannot say we were on the wrong path. We were quite successful with our career. But there are other options,” Golovkin said in continuing to discuss his switch to Banks.

Golovkin isn’t willing to admit that he was on the wrong path with his former trainer Sanchez, but he clearly was. Sanchez should have been able to spot that Golovkin wasn’t throwing enough punches in his fights with Daniel Jacobs and Canelo. Banks saw the mistake GGG made in those fights, and he’s working with him to try and fix it. If Banks had been in GGG’s corner in both Canelo fights, there’s a good chance he would have beaten the Mexican star.

“He could make a decision to throw the right hand. It could be the wrong one, and get knocked down. You have to make a decision and believe in it,” Banks said.

Hopefully, Banks isn’t going to have Golovkin fighting cautiously. That’s the way he’s been fighting, and it’s not working for him. Golovkin has to let his hands fly to take advantage of Canelo’s conditioning problems the way he and Jacobs did in the second half of their fights against him.

“I feel like a student, who is eager to learn more, who wants to learn more and try it all,” said Golovkin.

Golovkin can learn from Banks, but he’s got to be willing to apply what he’s learned. Wladimir Klitschko seemed like he was doing whatever he pleased when he had Banks as his trainer. Banks would push Wladimir to attack more, and he would do the opposite. As a result, Wladimir lost his last two fights to Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. Banks will be wasted as a coach if Golovkin doesn’t follow his instructions.

“He felt that it was pretty much time for a change, and that’s his mindset,” said Banks about Golovkin. “He wants to make sure everyday that he works hard to make sure he makes the right decision,” Banks said.

Golvokin should have made the move to switch out Sanchez several years ago after his fight with Kell Brook. That’s when it became clear that GGG needed a new coach to work on the flaws in his game.

“There is a goal. You don’t have to continue on the beaten path. You can try new roads and a different path,” Golovkin said.