vera1 By Dan Ambrose: #2 WBO, #6 WBC, Brian Vera (22-6, 13 KO’s) isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the World Boxing Association, but he feels that he’d give WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (25-0, 22 KO’s) all kinds of trouble if he decided to fight him.

Golovkin probably won’t bother fighting Vera because he’s not ranked by the WBA, and he was badly beaten not too long ago by Andy Lee, someone that Golovkin would destroy without any problems.

Vera told Jenna Jay at doghouseboxing.com “I’d be the style that would give him trouble because he’s been fighting guys that run around, a lot of movers and I’d stay right in the pocket and I think it would be a great fight.”

Vera does have good power, and he’s definitely a good pressure fighter. However, I think it would go really badly for him if Golovkin did decide to take that fight because Vera is too easy to hit. Golovkin punches way too hard, and with a punching bag like Vera in front of him, it would be a massacre.

I don’t know that HBO would accept a fight between Golovkin and Vera even if Golovkin’s team wanted to take the fight with Vera. We’ve seen Vera on ESPN2, but I think HBO has higher standards, and they might so no based on Vera’s many losses. Vera gets beaten each time he steps up in class, and I doubt HBO will want to waste one of Golovkin’s title fights on a guy that is as undependable as Vera.

Golovkin has a title defense coming up next month against Nobuhiro Ishida (24-8-2, 9 KO’s) Chapiteau de Fontvieille, Monte Carlo, Monaco. That fight will be about as competitive as a bout against Vera. Ishida doesn’t have much going for him except his height and chin. He doesn’t have power, and if he tries to trade with Golovkin then he’s going to get hurt.

Ishida’s chin might hold up in this fight, but I doubt his skin will. He’ll likely get cut up or end up with an eye closing from Golovkin’s hard shots. Ishida hasn’t faced too many body punchers, so it’s possible he could get taken out with a body shot if Golovkin decides to test him in that area.