Golovkin would lose to Hopkins and Ward, says Kenny Porter

By Boxing News - 07/12/2015 - Comments

golovkin7744By Scott Gilfoid: Kenny Porter, the trainer for former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter, sees IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) as not being an unstoppable force that can’t be beat, or can’t be stopped from his seven year knockout streak that he’s had going since 2008.

Porter specifically names the following fighters that can either beat Golovkin or give him some serious problems inside the ring: Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, and Bernard Hopkins. Porter feels that Hopkins and Ward would straight beat Golovkin, and he also thinks that Dirrell would give him major problems as well.

“There’s definitely some Americans over here that could give him a run and strop that knockout streak,” says trainer Kenny Porter to Dontae’s Boxing Nation. “Bernard Hopkins, Andre Ward, and definitely you’d look at Andre Dirrell. These are some names that could definitely give that kid [Golovkin] a run for his money. He’s not knocking out Andre Ward. He’s not knocking out Bernard Hopkins, if they could meet at some kind of understanding [catch-weight]. I see both of those guys being able to beat him. I see Andre Dirrell giving him a nice run. We’ve got some guys that could give him some serious work,” Porter said.

I hate to say it but I totally agree with Kenny G. I think the talented Dirrell would likely whip Golovkin, as would Hopkins and Ward. The weight would obviously be a hindrance to those fights getting made unless Golovkin were willing to move up to 168 to fight them. But if Golovkin is willing to fight former IBF/WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch at the full weight for the 168lb division, then he sure as heck should be willing to fight the likes of Ward and Hopkins at 168 as well. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Dirrell was arguably robbed in the 2004 Olympics in his loss to Golovkin. Dirrell lost the fight by the score of 23-18, but I’ve seen the fight at least a dozen times, I had Dirrell winning that fight 30-10. In looking at the scoring punches, Dirrell landed the cleaner shots in my view. Golovkin was soundly beaten by the eventual gold medal winner Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov from Russia in an ugly clinch-filled fight. Golovkin looked exhausted in that fight against the stronger Gaydarbekov, who kept trying to pull Golovkin off of him.

Hopkins has already challenged Golovkin to fight him at 175. It would be a good fight if it could be made, but I doubt that GGG will take the fight because it would be a dangerous one. Hopkins knows how to fight on the inside like Gaydarbekov, and I could see him doing the same thing to Golovkin that the Russian fighter did in the Olympics.

Ward is kind of the same type of fighter that Hopkins is, only he’s younger. He’d likely study Golvokin’s loss to Gaydarbekov and use the same strategy to defeat him by beating him in close and getting a decision win. I don’t see Ward or Hopkins scoring knockouts over Golovkin, because that’s not the type of fighters they are.