By Gerardo Granados: Last Saturday night we all got the chance to see a beautiful knockout, a left hook to the body that was brilliantly prepared and executed by WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO’s) in knocking out Matthew Macklin. Oh, the drama of the fallen contender screaming in pain was something to remember.
Once, a long time ago, Roy Jones Jr. knocked out hall of fame member Virgil Hill, but I believe it was a hook to the body delivered with the right hand that broke a rib and the pain of Hill was as dramatic as Golovkin´s.
Golovkin has evolved into a fearful middleweight champion; he has polished his boxing skills and packs a hammer on both of his hands. But is he ready to headline a pay per view event? On the interviews he looks so confident and calm’ I haven’t heard him trash talk and seems to be a nice guy to hang around with, but I can´t say he has that special charisma that attracts the interest of all the boxing fans and he might need a good promotion effort to get him to a star level.
WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, the “Chacal” has a great nickname but his personality might not fit as well because he is quite sober and unsmiling. He is very professional in his job but he might not be able to evolve into a charismatic character that will allow him to be promoted as other fighters, who were way less skilled and have been brought up to stardom.
How come a defensive fighter like Floyd Mayweather Jr. is able to bring such big numbers on pay per view events? Pernell Whitaker was as great as Floyd is, but he never got to the level of audience of “Money”. So, why is it possible for Mayweather Jr. to be so successful? It’s true he is very popular and is followed by many loyal fans but it is also true he might be one of the most hated boxers of all times.
In pro boxing to have an attractive personality might be as important as having great over all boxing skills. Muhammad Ali might be the best example. Do the readers remember the names of: Thomas Hearns, Hector “Macho” Camacho, Ricardo Mayorga, Jorge Maromero Paez Sr. and Prince Naseem Hamed? If Rigondeaux had a similar personality to the one of the above mentioned he would be a boxing star already and we all would be getting ready to see him fight again but instead its hard to hear from him lately.
Golovkin has turned himself in to a wrecking machine but his promoter forgot to build his personality. I believe most of the readers know the name of Roy Jones Jr. but do you know who Virgil Hill was? Gennady has a similar personality to the one of Hill and he might be even better skilled but to the date he has not showed a special charisma as the one former greats had.
Either you have it or not, but promotion is a job that will help you increase the interest of the audience. There is an old saying that goes: God never gives wings to snakes; so you can’t have it all.
Can Golovkin and Rigondeaux become a big pay per view attractions?
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