by Oliver Norager – IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) faces the durable, but limited Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) on the 21 of February in Monte Carlo. This is actually a decent fight for the hard punching Golovkin. Murray is a decent operator with a tight defense, so getting Murray out of his misery early will prove something to the public, because neither Felix Sturm or Sergio Martinez were able to get him out of there, but they don’t have the power that Golovkin has.
Once Murray starts feeling Golovkin punches he will get into survival mode, so expect a blowout in the middle rounds once Murray feels that he can’t compete with the likes of Golovkin.
After Golovkin is done with Murray he should go up to super middleweight, because the options for him at middleweight are limited. Nobody seems eager to get in the ring with him without getting paid a fortune to do it. The likes of Peter Quillin, Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez do not seem eager to fight him. From what I have seen these guys can’t compete with Golovkin, especially the smaller guys like Cotto, because he is simply to powerful for them. Golovkin isn’t the biggest middleweight in the world, but with his boxing skills and freakish power, he should go up and face some tougher opponents. There are some big fights for Golovkin at super middleweight against the likes of Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Chavez Jr or Mikkel Kessler. These guys would stand up to Golovkin’s power, because they are big and strong super middleweights, with good chins. If Golovkin is able to get them out of there it would really prove that he is for real and has some ATG written over him.
I would actually expect all of these guys to give Golovkin all he can handle, especially Ward and Kessler, because they have the style to beat him. We have also not seen if Golovkin is able to take a punch from a big super middleweight, like Froch or Kessler – He could be in trouble once these guys hit him hard on the chin.
At 32, Golovkin isn’t a spring chicken anymore and should look for bigger and better fights for himself. He could get a fortune for fighting Froch in England, Kessler in Denmark or Chavez, because these are stadium fights. Ward seems to not being able to sell out his own living room and with his style, Golovkin would be in big trouble.
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