Macklin: Golovkin will have to worry about his defense as much as his offense

By Boxing News - 06/28/2013 - Comments

734(Photo credit: K2/Will Hart) By Scott Gilfoid: Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KO’s) figures that WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) will have plenty to worry about on Saturday night in their fight at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort, in Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA.

Golovkin is normally on a seek and destroy mission when he fights as he looks to smash to bits his opponents in two or three rounds, but Macklin believes that he’s going to interrupt this pattern on Saturday night by keeping Golovkin thinking about defense as well as offense. Macklin sees this as a potential problem for Golovkin, and he wants to make the fight as tough and as bloody as possible for the fighter from Kazakhstan.

Macklin said to HBO “This is the first time in @gggboxing’s career that he’ll have to be as preoccupied with defense as he is with offense.”

It makes sense that Golovkin will have to worry about his defense in this fight, because Macklin tends to throw a lot of punches in jumping on his opponents early to try and score quick knockouts. However, I have a strong feeling that Macklin won’t do that in this fight, so it’s probably not going to be a fight where Golovkin has to worry about his defense as much as one would think.

I have a feeling that Macklin is fighting to be fighting like he’s walking on eggshells, seemingly afraid to let his hands go for fear of getting drilled in the head by one of Golovkin’s powerful right hands or left hooks.

Macklin will essentially be neutered and harmless to Golovkin if he fights like that, and that’s pretty much how I see it. Macklin will try and survive for the long haul and hope that he can jump on Golovkin late in the fight when he possibly fades.

It’s a bad idea because Macklin looks exhausted when he goes past the 8th round, and he’s going to have nothing left in the later rounds to do anything with Golovkin. Of course, Macklin probably won’t be around for more than 5 or 6 rounds anyway if he chooses to just run, because Golovkin will catch up to him and punch his lights out. It won’t matter.

That’s why I think the best course for Macklin is to go after Golovkin early and go out in a blaze of glory. It’s better to go all out and have a slight chance of winning than it would be for Macklin to run and get slowly smacked around until being stopped.



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