Monroe: People will be surprised how I hit Golovkin

By Boxing News - 05/16/2015 - Comments

1-Golovkin (9)By Jim Dower: 28-year-old challenger Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1, 6 KOs) expects to open a lot of eyes with the way that he performs tonight against IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) tonight in their fight on HBO.

Monroe feels that he’s going to surprise boxing fans with the way that he’s able to nail Golovkin with shots. The Kazakhstan fighter usually doesn’t get hit too often in his fights due to his sound defense, and his ability to land crushing counter shots.

When Golovkin’s opponents do elect to fire back at him, it puts themselves in a vulnerable position to get hit by him. That’s obviously not a good thing to get hit by a puncher like Golovkin.

“A lot of people are going to be surprised by the way I hit him,” Monroe said as quoted by skysports.com. “A lot of people are asking me, ‘Are you scared?’ I relish being the underdog. I’ve literally been the underdog since I was conceived in my mother’s womb.”

Monroe will land some shots in this fight simply because of Golovkin’s aggressiveness. But with that said, if Monroe’s shots don’t have the kind of punching power to make Golovkin respect him, we could see a quick knockout. Golovkin is rarely cautious in his fights.

Golovkin had respect for Curtis Steven’s punching power, because that was a fight that lasted 8 rounds. Martin Murray lasted 11 rounds against Golovkin, but that was because he was carried Golovkin. He didn’t look like he was trying for a knockout until the 11th, and once he reached that round, he blasted him out quickly.

”I’m a stylistic enigma to this guy,” Monroe said. ”I knew from the outset that he didn’t want to fight me. I’m not his first choice here.”

Monroe is right about not being the first choice from Golovkin’s team. They wanted a bigger name like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Once it was clear that none of those guys had any interest in fighting Golovkin, he had to settle for the next highest ranking fighter that was interested in fighting him. But I don’t think Golovkin had any fear of fighting Monroe. It was more of a case of him being such a nonentity that he wasn’t even someone that was worth considering for Golovkin. This is a fight where Golovkin isn’t going to get much credit for beating Monroe because the American fighter doesn’t have a big fan base, and he’s not well-known to the casual boxing fans of the sport.



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