By Dan Ambrose: A lot of fans don’t quite understand why IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) is facing #2 WBA Willie Monroe (19-1, 6 KOs) tonight in their fight on HBO at the Forum in Inglewood, California. It’s an unusual choice of an opponent for Golovkin because it’s an optional defense for him, and he could fight almost anyone with a more entertaining fighting style.
Monroe fights in a style that is similar to Floyd Mayweather Jr., only he doesn’t have Mayweather’s hand speed, pinpoint accuracy and excellent defense. But Golovkin says the reason why he wants to fight the southpaw Monroe is because he wants to prove that he can beat his style.
Golovkin says that Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez struggled in the past when facing southpaws, and he wants to challenge himself by fighting a southpaw as well.
“I want to fight a southpaw because I want to show everybody that I can beat any style, it doesn’t matter,” Golovkin said to Fightnews.com. “I’m very anxious. This is a big test for me. I remember a lot of fighters, like Canelo, Cotto, and a lot of great champions have had problems with southpaws. So why not test myself?”
Monroe’s southpaw stance will only give Golovkin problems if Monroe is willing to stand in the pocket and make a fight of it. Of course, Monroe’s chin will need to hold up under the big bombs that Golovkin is nailing him with all night long. But Monroe isn’t going to prove anything if he gets on his bike from the 1st round and looks to survive instead of brawling with him.
Having a southpaw style works if the fighter is willing to get into the trenches and exchange shots with their opponent with an orthodox fighting stance. But it’s not going to work if they’re afraid to get hit.
Monroe is going to need to show that he can take a hit and return fire, because he’s not going to show anything if he runs from the 1st round and goes into the survival mode.
Golovkin probably won’t get much credit even if he shines tonight against Monroe because the American fighter has never beaten anyone good during his career. His best wins came in ESPN’s Boxcino tournament and with his win over Brian Vera. Other than those victories, Monroe has done largely nothing. He didn’t even look good in the Vera fight due to his constant running and holding.
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