By Jim Dower: This Friday night unbeaten WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (20-0, 17 KO’s) will be defending his title against number #8 ranked WBC contender Kassim Ouma (27-7-1, 17 KO’s) at the Arena Roberto Duran, in Panama City, Panama. This will be the second title defense for the 29-year-old Golovkin and it should be a real test of how good he is.

Golovkin, a 2004 former Olympian for Kazakhstan, has yet to be really tested at middleweight. He’s done well against the guys he’s been in with, but Ouma could give him some problems with his southpaw stance and boxing ability. Ouma has been stopped only once in his career and can take a heck of a shot without going down. Golovkin, 5’10”, doesn’t have a lot of size but punches like a mule from time to time. He’s one of those types of fighters that sets traps for his opponents and suddenly loads up on his shots.

Golovkin doesn’t show his power all the time, but when he does, his opponents are often not ready for it and for his sudden bursts of shots. Golovkin doesn’t just attack his opponents, he explodes on them. It was this way of fighting that has enabled Golovkin to beat the likes of Lucian Bute, Andre Dirrell, Yordanis Despaigne, Andy Lee, and Matvey Korobov in the amateur ranks. At the pro level, Golovkin’s opposition has been much less fearsome, as he’s been mostly matched against 2nd and 3rd tier opposition. Ouma is more of a fringe contender than a true top 10 guy.

Ouma, 32, previously held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior middleweight title from 2004 to 2005 until losing it to Roman Karmazin in a 12 round decision loss. Ouma’s luck hasn’t been good in recent years, however, as he’s lost five out of his last seven fights. He does have a win over Marco Antonio Rubio, but that was back in 2006. In his recent fights, he beat Joey Gilbert, a good fighter, in September 2010. And before that, Ouma lost a questionable 10 round decision to Vanes Martirosyan in January 2010. A lot of boxing fans felt that Ouma should have been the decision in that fight.