Kellerman says Golovkin might be getting old

Boxingnews24.com

By Chris Williams: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) squeaked by his WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs by a close and highly questionable 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night. The fight results have been questioned by massive amounts of boxing fans who thought Jacobs should have had his hand raised at the end of the fight. HBO commentator Max Kellerman thought it was a very close fight that was decided by Golovkin winning the 12th round. However, 2 of the 3 judges gave Jacobs the 12th round.

Only 1 of the judges saw Golovkin winning the 12h. Kellerman says the soon to be 35-year-old Golovkin may be getting old, but he also believes that he was facing a peaking fighter in 29-old Jacobs. Personally, I don’t think Golovkin got old like Kellerman. I think Golovkin met his match and was exposed by Jacobs. Golovkin looked slow, hittable and confused out there for 12 rounds. Jacobs did enough to win the fight, but he just didn’t have the judges siding with him.

“Dominant knockout performers like Triple G and fighters that look like they’re unbeatable, generally that happens as a result of match-making,” said HBO Boxing’s Max Kellerman last Saturday night following the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight. “Generally it’s because they’re in with a certain level of opposition. Even Mayweather and Pacquiao in the previous era, when they looked totally unbeatable, they were in with good fighters. When they looked more vulnerable, particularly Pacquiao, he was either in with one great fighter, Juan Manuel Marquez or a good young peaking fighter, Tim Bradley, for example. That was what Triple G was in with tonight for the first time in his career really, a really good peaking fighter,” said Kellerman.

The thing with Golovkin is he wasn’t facing Jacobs with him firing on all cylinders. Jacobs was fighting in 1st gear most of the fight. He never really turned it up into 2nd gear for more than a second or two. We never saw Jacobs shift to 3rd and 4th gear like he’d done against Peter Quillin and Sergio Mora. I kept waiting for Jacobs to turn into overdrive for him to try and KO a fighter that was there to be knocked out, but he played it conservatively. I don’t blame Jacobs for fighting the way he did. He was sticking with the game plan for his trainer Andre Rozier and he didn’t want to veer away from it. But it showed how good Jacobs is that he could still get the better of Golovkin even when he was still in 1st gear for the entire fight.

Again, I don’t think Golovkin got old. To me, I see Golovkin as being rated too highly all these years by boxing fans and writers. They saw Golovkin as unbeatable for wins over guys that were very beatable. If Jacobs had fought the same guys that Golovkin did during his career, he’d be 36-0 too, but I think he’d have more knockouts than him. Golovkin never fought anyone that I consider good until his fight with Jacobs last Saturday, and he should have lost that fight in my opinion.

“Triple G knew it coming in,” said Kellerman. “Jacobs came in with amateur pedigree, with size, with speed, with boxing IQ, having overcome obstacles in his career. He was a peaking fighter tonight, and he made Triple G look beatable. In fact, I thought the fight was up for grabs in the 12th round. You have to give Triple G credit for winning that round decisively, a championship moment for a champion, defeating the leading contender in the division as a result. But Triple G will be 35 soon, and once upon a time that was old age for a fighter. At any rate, he’s no spring chicken. To not make an excuse for him, he was in with a really good peaking fighter. Maybe age is catching up to him. Maybe he is more vulnerable; not only because of the opponent, but also because of father time than he once was. It remains to be seen. We hope that we’ll find out in a fight with Canelo should Canelo get by Chavez Jr. But as we saw tonight with both [Roman] Chocolatito [Gonzalez] and Triple G, there’s no guarantee that Canelo does get by Chavez Jr. When you fight tough fights and Chavez Jr. is a big, strong guy who’s highly motivated, you might lose,” said Kellerman.

The only way we’ll know for sure if Golovkin’s dismal performance against Jacobs was due to age is if he beats his upcoming opponents Billy Joe Saunders and Saul Canelo Alvarez. If Golovkin can beat those two fighters with flying colors and then defeat Jacobs, without controversy in the rematch, then you can say that it was just an off night for Triple G.

Whatever the case, I think Jacobs deserved the victory last Saturday night, and it’s sad that he wasn’t given the win. When you work hard the way Jacobs did, you should be rewarded by a nice win. Jacobs could be the one that would be getting all that sweet cash in fighting Canelo and Saunders. The good news for Jacobs is the boxing public largely saw him as the winner last Saturday night, so it’s almost like he still got the win. Jacobs can get other big fights like David Lemieux while he waits for the dust to settle on the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight so that he can take on the winner of that fight.