Does anybody stand a chance against Golovkin?

By Sebastian Mora - 05/22/2015 - Comments

Image: Does anybody stand a chance against Golovkin?By Sebastian Mora: Is there anybody that has a realistic chance against WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin? If you want to have a logical answer, you have to ask yourself what are the things a boxer MUST have to beat GGG? Endurance, chin, heart, incredible skill, and high boxing IQ, the boxer must be battle tested, cold blooded when facing adversity, and at least respectable power.

From 154 to 168 do I see any boxer with those attributes? I don’t know, lets see who is out there and how will they fit against GGG.

Erislandy Lara:  An excellent Cuban fighter, I feel bad that he does not get the credit he deserves, if you look at Lara’s resume you can see he has not taken an easy road.

How would the slick Cuban fit against GGG thought? Some people think that he has enough skills to beat GGG, is it because of his style that people seem to think that thought? Would Lara really have a realistic chance vs Golovkin? Let’s see if he does.

Lara has shown that he can go 12 rounds without a problem. However, the times he has gone 12 rounds against a big puncher he has had difficulties. He likes to take 5 to 10 second breaks in the ropes, letting his opponent hit him with nasty body shots. If he did that against Golovkin, would he really survive? I don’t think so. Why? Because he has a questionable chin. The way he got hurt by Angulo only leads me to imagine what would of happened if it was Golovkin that threw the left hook that put him down.

Lara might have enough power to earn Golovkin’s respect for the first few rounds, also his speed could make it difficult for GGG. However, I stated in my last article that Golovkin, (like a lot of slick boxers) he tends to study his opponent pretty well, and so far even though it hasn’t been against top opposition, he has shown that he can adapt to decent speed and power. I see Golovkin fully figuring Lara’s style by the 8th and 9th round. Just because Lara was able to confuse Canelo when they fought, does not mean he will be able to do the same to Golovkin. Canelo fought mostly Mexican fighters early in his career, and has only faced 2 slick boxers before Lara which were Trout, and Mayweather. Golovkin has face A LOT of guys with Lara’s style in the Amateurs. What does that tell me? That the main weapon Lara has which is to confuse his opponents with his slick boxing style, he won’t have it against GGG. I don’t see Lara doing anything that GGG hasn’t seen before.

Prediction: Golovkin 10rd TKO. 

Peter Quillin: A lot of fans would love to see Quillin vs Golovkin. I understand why, he has great power and respectable talent. One of the things Quillin hasn’t fully shown is his toughness. Does he really have the chin, heart, and toughness to go 12 rounds vs GGG? I say 12 rounds because if he was not able to knock Andy Lee out, he definitely won’t be able to knock Golovkin out, so the only way he could win in my eyes is by a decision.

Now, even if Quillin had those 3 things I mentioned and was able to take Golovkin shots, does he have the skills to OUTBOX Golovkin for 12 rounds? I truly don’t think so. What a lot of people seem to forget due to Golovkin’s power is that he was a great amateur, and to be a great amateur you have to know how to win on points. Just like Lara, I don’t see Quillin doing anything that Golovkin has not seen before.

Even though I like Quillin as a boxer, I remember how hesitant he was after he tasted Andy Lee’s power, and how Gabriel Rosado was able to back him down and almost bully him in the late rounds.
Prediction: Golovkin 8rd TKO

Carl Froch: Now I don’t care if you are a purist or a fan that loves brawlers, if you call yourself a fight fan you would love to see Froch vs Golovkin. 

Froch vs Golovkin would be a great fight for various reasons, but one of the main reasons is the power both boxers posses.

Both boxers have incredible punching power, and both boxers have also shown that they can take a punch to the face.

What are Carl Froch advantages? I would say size and experience.
What are Golovkin advantages? I would say skills, and his timing.
I don’t see Carl Froch knocking out Golovkin, and I don’t see Golovkin knocking out Froch neither. I think it would come down to who wants it more, and who is able to execute their game plan better. One of the hardest fights to predict.
Prediction: Golovkin MD

Miguel Cotto: Great Puerto Rican fighter. A fighter that has earned his place in boxing by fighting the very best. Decent skills, respectable power, and a lot of experience.

Miguel Cotto is a true warrior, no matter how many setbacks he has had in his career he always finds a way to get back to the spotlight.

Does he have enough to beat GGG? Let’s remember how Cotto was looking late in his second fight vs Margarito, against Mayweather he got hurt in the 12 and lost a decision, against Trout even though I scored the fight way closer than what the judges scored it he clearly lost.

He then faced Delvin Rodriguez. I never like to question boxers cojones, but you could tell Delvin’s cojones and skills were left at home.

Sergio Martinez, was clearly not close to 100%.

I don’t see Cotto having the chin or the skills to beat Golovkin. However, he has a big enough heart to give him a great fight.

Prediction: Golovkin 7rd KO

Saul Alvarez: Canelo vs GGG seems to be the next big fight. Canelo does have underrated boxing skills, clearly would be the faster guy, and his toughness in my opinion will lead him to fight a toe to toe battle against Gennady Golovkin.

Will he touch Golovkin more than any opponent he has faced so far? Definitely yes. Canelo has enough skills, speed and power to give GGG problems. However,  does he have the chin to survive a 12 round battle? The only punchers Canelo has faced in his career are Kirkland and Angulo, unfortunately,  I don’t think neither fighter  was close to been  100% when they fought Canelo. That means that we don’t truly know if Alvarez chin can go 12 rounds against Golovkin. We know Canelo can be hurt, he got hurt against Jose Cotto. Golovkin got hit good against Stevens a pretty good puncher, and did not wobble once. When it comes to skills I think both fighters have boxing skills, but would have to give Golovkin a slide edge. Defense I think Canelo has a better one, but if you read my last article you already know that I think that the ability that Golovkin has to never loose balance could make up for his defense. For many people this fight is a hard one to predict, for some reason I think differently. My prediction might anger some people, but remember fight fans anything can happen in this beautiful sport of boxing. If you think otherwise you are welcome to tell me why respectfully in the comment section.
Prediction: Golovkin 10rd TKO

Floyd Mayweather: Even though I would call Mayweather crazy if he was to take a fight vs Golovkin, there is a lot of talk about this fight and the way the sport of boxing is you never know.

Mayweather in my opinion would have an advantage in every single department, except for power. I think Mayweather would have to fight a perfect fight. Does he have what it takes? I truly believe he does. Why? If you read the beginning of this article you will see that I wrote; “You have to ask yourself what are the things a boxer MUST have to beat GGG? Endurance, chin, heart, incredible skill, and high boxing IQ, the boxer must be battle tested, cold blooded when facing adversity, and at least respectable power.”

I see Mayweather having all of those. The chin is definitely there, the heart I truly believe is there as well, the skill I don’t think anybody can argue with that, his boxing IQ is one if not the best in the game, he is definitely battle tested, and has proved to us that he is cold blooded and knows what to do when he gets hurt.

Now I know a lot of people will think that Mayweather does not have enough power to earn Golovkin’s respect. I’d respond to that by saying that Mayweather uses as much power as needed. He won’t use more he won’t use less, everything Mayweather does has a reason behind it. If he knows that it takes a certain amount of power to keep you off of him, he will use that exact amount of power. Many people forget Mayweather had Canelo guessing in the ropes after that beautiful upper cut he landed in the 8th round. He won’t have enough power to hurt Golovkin, but he will have enough power to earn Golovkin’s respect.

If there is any fighter between 147 and 160 pounds that has a chance to beat Mayweather it would have to be GGG.

However, I think Golovkin would taste defeat after many years if he was to face Money May. I don’t think Golovkin would look as bad as Pacquiao or Canelo, but I also don’t think he could do enough to win.
Prediction: Mayweather MD (7 rounds to 5)

Andre Ward: I see this fight so close, that I don’t want to make a prediction yet. I want to wait until June 20th, see how Ward performs after a long vacation from the sport. When the fight is over, I will make my prediction base on Ward performance.

I see this fight 50/50, and if I am not sure about something I rather not mislead my readers.

One of my favorite boxing quotes is; “Everybody has a game plan until they get hit.”

The same way with predictions like these, I can try to predict a fight all I want, all it takes in this sport is one punch to turn a fight around.

Gennady “GGG” Golovkin will be hard for anybody to beat, we have to respect any fighter that takes the risk to at least try.

What do you think about my predictions fight fans? How do you see Golovkin fitting against the mentioned fighters? Is Gennady Golovkin the real deal? Let me know your opinion fight fans.

If you wish to contact me, you can do so at sebastianmora67@yahoo.com.



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