By Sean McDaniel: In an ugly mismatch, WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (23-0, 20 KO’s) blasted out over-matched #9 WBC contender Makoto Fuchigami (19-7, 10 KO’s) in the 3rd round on Saturday night at the Ice Palace “Terminal”, in Brovari, Ukraine.
Golovkin, 30, knocked the light hitting Fuchigami down twice in the fight. The bout was halted with a bleeding Fuchigami taking punishment against the ropes and about to be knocked down yet again.
There wasn’t much action to speak of in the 1st round, as Fuchigami constantly moved around the ring waving a pawing right in front of him in a slapping motion. Only rarely did Fuchigami land anything at all in the round, as he was being chased by around. Near the end of the round, Golovkin landed a series of hard right hands to the head that opened up a cut over the right eye of Fuchigami just as the round was ending.
In the 2nd round, Golovkin teed off on Fuchigami with hard right hands to the head and had Fuchigami looking hurt at times. Golovkin caught Fuchigami up against the ropes and nailed him with two hard right hands that knocked Fuchigami down on the canvas. The knockdown was made easier for Golovkin in that Fuchigami was squared up at the time, looking to escape. After the knockdown, Golovkin landed three huge right hands that Fuchigami took well. However, as the round ended, Fuchigami, covered in blood from his cut eye, looked in bad shape.
Golovkin continued to chase Fuchigami around the ring in the next round, nailing him with right hands and putting him down for a second time. Fuchigami got up and immediately retreated to the ropes where he absorbed bombardment of punches from Golovkin. The referee then stepped in and stopped the fight to him from taking any additional punishment.
After the bout, Golovkin called out WBA Super Champion Felix Sturm. Golovkin shouldn’t hold his breath waiting for Sturm to fight him, however, because it’s not going to happen. Golovkin is too good.
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In the other interesting fight on the card, WBO junior middleweight champion Zaurbek Baysangurov (27-1, 20 KO’s) had to struggle to defeat previously unbeaten Michel Soro (18-1, 11 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 116-111 and 115-112. Baysangurov was knocked down in the 2nd. Soro continued to give Baysangurov big proves in the first half of the fight with power punching. However, in the second half, Baysangurov took control over the fight and dominated the tiring Soro to get the decision.
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Other fights on the card:
Vyacheslav Uzelkov UD 8 Ravshanbek Jabbarov
Viktor Plotnykov UD 8 Nugzar Margvelashvili
Dmytro Nikulin UD 8 George Ungiadze
Andriy Rudenko TKO 4 Paata Berikashvili
Isa Akberbayev RTD 3 Mauro Adrian Ordiales