Golovkin Obliterates Greenidge

By Boxing News - 04/26/2009 - Comments

golovkin5By Erik Schmidt: Unbeaten middleweight contender Gennady Golovkin (15-0, 12 KOs) took out American Anthony Greenidge (13-2-1, 5 KOs) in the 5th round tonight at the König Palast, in Krefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Golovkin, 27, landed a hard left to the midsection of Greenidge in the 5th, sending him down in a delayed reaction. Greenidge got to his feet quickly and then shook his head and walked away rather than continue fighting. The bout was then stopped at 0:59 of the 5th round.

Golovkin, ranked #3 in the WBA, #5 in the WBC and WBO, caused Greenidge to take a knee twice in the opening round after nailing him with a hard left and then a big right hand. It looked as if Golovkin was planning on starting out slowly against Greenidge. However, when the American came out firing bombs in the 1st round, it seemed to anger Golovkin, who immediately returned fire with a big left hand that hurt Greenidge.

Three success big right hands and then a powerful left hook from Golovkin caused Greenidge to take a knee for the first time in the round. He got up at the count of eight and was immediately staggered by a left hook from Golovkin. Greenidge then retreated around the ring taking uppercuts and hooks to the head.

A few seconds later, Greenidge took a knee for the second time after getting hit with a big right hand from Golovkin. Like before, Greenidge got up at the count of eight and retreated around the ring taking heavy shots as he moved. Somehow, Greenidge made it out of the ring without being knocked out.

Greenidge fought well in the 2nd round, putting a lot of power into his combinations. It looked like Golovkin was now easing off on him, and just focusing on blocking shots and landing softer punches. This is pretty typical of Golovkin, who likes to lull his opponents asleep and then suddenly opening with huge shots that when they least suspect it.

Golovkin still got the better of Greenidge despite the fact that American was fighting at full throttle and putting every ounce of energy into his shots. Golovkin nailed him with some nice double and triple hooks to the head and body in the round. By the end of the round, Greenidge had the beginning stages of swelling under his right eye.

In the 3rd round, Greenidge fought hard trying to somehow get Golovkin to back off. He nailed Golovkin with a quite a few hard combinations to the body and head, but was unable to sustain the pace throughout the three minutes of the round. Golovkin just continued to calmly come forward, throwing combinations, jabs and right hands to the head of Greenidge. Golovkin still appeared to be taking it easy on the American and not showing him his real power like in the first round.

Greenidge fought moderately well in the 4th, continuing to land some nice shots, but he was clearly tiring under the pressure from Golovkin. The round was fairly close until the last thirty seconds when Golovkin suddenly came alive and started loading up with some huge shots. In between rounds, Greenidge looked worried like he knew he was in trouble. His trainers tried to give him a pep talk but it didn’t seem to be registering with Greenidge.

In the 5th round, Golovkin looked like a completely different fighter, throwing nothing but huge power shots and giving Greenidge a lot of powers in the early seconds of the round. Golovkin then backed Greenidge up near ropes and then landed a powerful left hook to his midsection, causing Greenidge to take two steps backwards, clutch his midsection and sink to the canvas.

While he was down, Greenidge let out a whimper of pain, and then climbed to his feet. Instead of fighting, however, Greenidge turned his back on the referee and Golovkin and waved his hand, as if signaling ‘I’m through for the night.’ The referee then stopped the bout at 0:59 of the 5th.

With this win and the defeat of John Duddy this weekend, Golovkin will likely be moving up a notch or two in the rankings. Duddy was ranked ahead of Golovkin at number #4 in the WBC, but that no doubt will change after this weekend.