Gennady Golovkin prepares for challenge of Matthew Macklin

By Boxing News - 05/27/2013 - Comments

golovkin4534By Ian Aldous: On June 29th, Gennady Golovkin (26-0) puts his WBA and IBO world middleweight championships on the line against tough, perennial contender, Matthew Macklin (29-4) from the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The HBO televised fight will see Golovkin face a legitimate challenge in the form of two-time world title challenger, Macklin.

Gennady clearly has the utmost respect for Macklin and his assets as a fighter. He told me over the phone from his training camp at Big Bear, California, “For me, Matthew Macklin is a very good fighter, he is a good boxer, good athlete. He has good speed, he has good power, he’s strong.” It looks to be the toughest test of his undefeated career so far and Golovkin agrees, “Yes, absolutely. This fight is very difficult for us, for me.”

2013 has already seen Golovkin in the ring on two occasions. In January he stopped the rugged Gabriel Rosado in seven rounds, and just two months later he brutally KO’d Nobuhiro Ishida in round three of their bout in Monaco. The Macklin fight was already announced in April. You can’t accuse Gennady and his team of inactivity, three fights in six months is something unheard of by a top professional in the modern age.

The June 29th fight will be broadcast by HBO. The chance to be a regular name on HBO is something that any fighter dreams of. It’s also something to be prized and appreciated when that man was born half way across the world in Kazakhstan. The recent departure of Floyd Mayweather to Showtime really does open the door for a guy like Golovkin to shine in America on HBO. Gennady appreciates what opportunity HBO can give him, “I think this fight is very important to win for a big chance for my next fight. I think for a Sergio Martinez fight, for a Chavez Jr. (fight)”

The first of the two earlier mentioned title challenges saw Matthew travel to Germany and take on Felix Sturm. The split decision in favour of Sturm was criticized in some quarters. It was undoubtedly a close fight and I personally believe it could have gone either way. Whatever the result, Matthew proved he belonged with the top echelon of middleweights. So much so, that his very next fight was for the WBC (Diamond) middleweight title (let’s be honest, the real middleweight world championship). Macklin won his fair share of rounds and dropped Martinez before being retired at the end of the eleventh round by his trainer, Buddy McGirt. Despite two failures, the world took notice of Macklin.

Boxrec.com understandably ranks the top three middleweights in this order, Sergio Martinez, Daniel Geale and Gennady Golovkin. Martinez recently solidified his position atop of the middleweights with a very tough and hard fought victory over previously undefeated Brit, Martin Murray. Reports are that Geale is set to defend his IBF title against Darren Barker in August. So, a realistic prospect would be for the winner of Golovkin/Macklin to fight the winner of Geale/Barker for a shot at Martinez and his unofficial crown of undisputed world middleweight champion. When I quizzed Gennady about who he thinks are some of the better middleweights he’d like to fight, he mentioned, “In the future, I think Sergio, Geale, Sturm or Barker. I respect these guys.”

There’s no doubt about the fact that Gennady is amongst the most devastating punchers in the game today. I can foresee him landing shots on Macklin and testing his durability in the early stages. Matthew has been stopped twice before. It’s tough to predict anything other than a Golovkin victory by late stoppage. After that, he is open to a plethora of big fights, possibly even away from 160lbs, “Right now, I’m a middleweight. Maybe next fight I’m at junior-middleweight or super-middleweight.”

The undercard on June 29th features a fantastic co-feature. South African super-middleweight and IBO belt holder, Thomas Oosthuizen (21-0-1) faces the undefeated contender, Brandon Gonzales (17-0). The classy Oosthuizen isn’t far from being able to name himself amongst the top 168lb fighters in the world and a win here will help that cause. Also, Willie Nelson (20-1-1) fights Luciano Cuello (32-2) in a junior middleweight bout.

Golovkin vs. Macklin is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and K2 Promotions in association with Golden Gloves LTD, Goossen-Tutor Promotions and Rumble Time Promotions. The HBO Boxing After Dark triple-header will be televised live beginning at 9:45pm ET on Saturday June 29th. Tickets are available via foxwoods.com and ticketmaster.com.



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