By Raj Parmar: Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KO’s) is looking at 2015 as the year he makes the transition from boxing titlist to superstar.
Golovkin won the WBA middleweight title in 2010 and has successfully defended the strap each time inside the distance since becoming world champion. Golovkin is scheduled to defend the title against challenger Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KO’s) on October 18 and can also pick up the interim WBC title at the same time.
Popular champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) is the official WBC middleweight champion.
“This is a big step for me, biggest name in the division from Mexico,” Golovkin stated to latimes.com regarding his clash with Rubio, “Good boxer, smart, not scared. It’s a good fight for me.”
Rubio has not been knocked down since 2004, much less knocked out. Therefore something will have to give as Golovkin will no doubt love to continue the 17 fight knockout streak he is carrying with him. As he continues to rack up victories by knockout, Golovkin’s team is focused on expanding his fan base and turning Gennady into a household name.
“His fights are broadcast in more than 100 countries, and his style – the knockouts – translate everywhere in the world,” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler explained, “The way he’s performing, it’s having a Mike Tyson effect on others, but we believe he’s right on schedule to where we want him to be.”
The ultimate goal for Team Golovkin is to ensure many more American fans become aware of the hard hitting champion and there are plans in place to make this process happen quickly. Gennady (born in Kazakhstan) has been granted U.S. residency and plans to move with his family to California. He has picked up the English language and can now answer most questions thrown his way without translation assistance.
In addition, it seems like Golovkin will get his chance at fighting a premier name in the sport next year. The WBC commission recently ordered that Cotto must defend the WBC title against the winner of Golovkin-Rubio. Therefore if Golovkin can get past Rubio in October, he will have a chance at unifying two major middleweight world titles against arguably the third biggest draw in boxing. An impressive win against Rubio and then Cotto will bring much more mainstream attention to Golovkin and that is exactly what Golovkin plans to achieve in 2015.
“Two years ago, he was an unknown. Now he’s in the top five in most pound-for-pound lists,” Loeffler detailed, “Step by step, we believe 2015 will be a breakout year.”
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