By Ryan Wardle: On January 19 current WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (25-0, 22 KO’s) took the ring for his second U.S. televised bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He made his sixth title defense against Gabriel Rosado (21-6, 13 KO’s). Golovkin’s popularity is quickly rising in the U.S. and last Saturday he put his skills on display. Over the course of the fight Rosado was fluidly dismantled by Golovkin as he made his way to a seventh round TKO victory.
During the second round he opened a cut over the left eye of Rosado and continued to target the area for the duration on the fight, this eventually led to Rosado’s demise as he could no longer see punches and ultimately caused his corner to call the fight.
Golovkin is known to have exceptionally heavy hands, with 22 of his 25 fights ending by knockout. He is a pressure fighter and possess an above average ability to cut off the ring. He does tend to leave his head in the middle but, having never been down as an amateur or pro, it hasn’t seemed to have affected to date. His next bout is already being talked about for March 30 in Europe, allegedly this is a tune up bout for a major fight.
Sergio Martinez (50-2-2-), the current WBC middleweight champion, has his next fight scheduled for April 27 with Martin Murray (25-0-1). The fight will take place in Martinez native Argentina and he will be a heavy favorite to retain his title. He is coming off a unanimous decision against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in which he handily outpointed his opponent.
Martinez is known as one of the top conditioned athletes in the sport. His style of fighting on the outside and pot shotting his competitors showcases his stamina. He has quick hands and lands hard, powerful punches and is considered among many one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world.
Golovkin has a seven year age advantage on the 37 year old Martinez but he has never been in a fight longer than eight rounds. His ability to fight 12 rounds hasn’t been demonstrated while Martinez has proven he can with ease. However, Martinez is coming off of a knee surgery and it has yet to be seen how that has affected him. In his last fight Martinez picked apart another pressure fighter in Chavez Jr. as he could never get close enough to hurt Martinez, until late in the twelfth round. Martinez also was not afraid to trade on the inside with the much bigger Chavez Jr. and he also had success.
Golovkin has the power to put Martinez down as Chavez Jr. did but with his head hanging in the middle it is almost and invitation for Martinez style. A WBA/WBC middleweight unification bout between these two fighters would be an exciting fight to see with two hard punchers and conflicting styles. The fighter who controls the distance would most likely control the fight.
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