By Jim Dower: In a highlight reel knockout, WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) knocked 37-year-old challenger Nobuhiro Ishida (24-9-2, 9 KO’s) out in the 3rd round with a huge right hand on Saturday night in front of a stunned crowd at the Salle des etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Golovkin corned the 6’2” Ishida by the ropes in the 3rd, and landed a long right hand that knocked Ishida down and threw the ropes. Ishida reportedly was unconscious from the shot briefly. Referee Stanley Christodoulou immediately halted the fight at 2:20 of the round.
Golovkin had Ishida hurt at the end of the 2nd round after nailing him with two hard right hands to the head.
Golovkin will likely be back in the ring in June against either Matthew Macklin or Brian Vera, depending on if one of them is willing to get in the ring with him. After tonight’s fight I wouldn’t be surprised if both of them say no.
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In undercard action, unbeaten super middleweight contender Edwin Rodriguez (23-0, 15 KO’s) won an unimpressive 10 round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Ezequiel Maderna (19-1, 13 KO’s). The final judges’ scores were 96-92, 96-92, and 95-92.
The fight was incredibly difficult to watch due to all the mauling and clinching that went on between the two fighters in every round. Rodriguez lost a point in the 8th for landing a low blow. In the 9th, Rodriguez lost another point this time for landing a rabbit punch to the back of Maderna’s head. Moments later, Rodriguez knocked Maderna down with an identical right hand rabbit punch, but this time the referee counted it.
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In a somewhat controversial decision, Denis Grachev (13-1-1, 8 KO’s) defeated 38-year-old former two division world champion Zsolt Erdei (33-1, 18 KO’s) by a 10 round split decision by the scores 96-94, 96-94 for Grachev, and 96-94 for Erdei. In the first half of the fight, Erdei controlled the action with his jab and his better work rate. However, in the second half of the fight, Erdei stopped throwing his jab and appeared to gas out completely. This enabled the younger and stronger 30-year-old Grachev to get back in the fight and even the fight.
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European junior middleweight champion Sergey Rabchenko (23-0, 17 KO’s) stayed unbeaten with an easy 2nd round knockout victory over a badly over-matched Adriano Nicchi (20-4-2, 9 KO’s). Rabchenko ended the fight with a big left hook to the head in the 2nd that put Nicchi down for the count.
Other boxing results on the card:
Ilunga Makabu TKO 3 Tamas Lodi
Kirill Relikh TKO 1 Paolo Gassani
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