By Dan Ambrose: Challenger Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1, 6 KOs) is considered a huge underdog for his title shot on Saturday against IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs), but Monroe doesn’t see it that way. He believes he’s going to have too much ring intelligence for the Kazakhstan fighter to deal with in this fight at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Monroe says his ring IQ will be the telling factor in the fight because he’ll ultimately be the smarter fighter and will overcome whatever obstacles the 33-year-old Golovkin presents for him in this fight.

“Intellect, boxing IQ. He’s going to have to match my smarts,” Monroe said to Fighthype. “He’s going to have to match my intelligence. If he can, he can give me a hard night. If not, then I’m going to walk away with that title. I execute and I adjust on the fly and I execute. This is my opportunity. A lot of guys only get one shot.”

Monroe, 28, figures because of the success that he’s had in the past, most notably in the Boxcino tournament in 2014, he’ll be able to find the same kind of success in this fight by him out-boxing the slower, heavier-handed Golovkin.

Golovkin is going to need to come at Monroe with a purpose in this fight, and not just let him do what he normally does in his fights. Abel Sanchez, the trainer for Golovkin, says that he let his last opponent Martin Murray hang around because he was no threat to him. But this is a different kind of fight because Golovkin could wind up losing a decision if he’s unable to score a knockout in this fight or put Monroe down a few times.

Golovkin will need to make the most of every shot he throws if he wants to have a chance of knocking out Monroe. Monroe is going to be looking to out-box Golovkin the same way he did with his last opponent Brian Vera last January in beating him by a 10 round decision.

“I think I’m more different from anyone he’s seen, and that’s not something I can prove by telling you guys,” Monroe said to ESPN.com. “That’s something I’m going to have to prove by showing you guys like I did in Boxcino. I was an underdog in every sight seemingly, and I came out on top fairly easily. I plan to do the same thing come May 16th,” Monroe said.

This is definitely going to be a different opponent for Golovkin. He’s been pretty lucky until now to have guys that he could easily go after and score quick knockouts. Monroe is a really difficult guy to fight because he brings in a lot of the same elements that you see from Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his fights in terms of his ability to hit and get out of the way of the return fire. If Monroe is going to hit and move all night long, Golovkin is going to need to be quick on his feet, and he’ll need to take some risks by being willing to take a shot to give one.