By Dan Ambrose: IBO/WBA and WBC interim middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) will be facing his most elusive and the fastest opponent of his career on May 16th when he defends his titles against #3 WBA, #5 WBO, #9 WBC Willie Monroe Jr (19-1, 6 KOs) at the Forum, in Inglewood, California, USA.
What’s different about this fight is that the long-armed Monroe will be using more movement, holding and slapping shots than any other fighter Golovkin has faced before in his pro career.
“On May 16, I will shock the world,” Monroe said. “I think this is an awesome fight. We have two contrasting styles and that will make for some spontaneous combustion. We will see which style comes out on top on May 16.”
I don’t see how Monroe can win this fight, because he doesn’t sit down on his shots enough to beat guys with power like Golovkin. If the judges have to decide on rounds based on which fighter is landing the harder shots, then it’s going to be Golovkin each time. Monroe obviously can’t win by knockout because he doesn’t have any power, and he runs too much. Winning is out of the question for Monroe. The only question is will Golovkin knock this guy? I don’t think so, because Monroe will be fighting to survive on May 16th, and there’s no way Golovkin will be able to corner him enough to score a knockout unless he lands something hard to the body. Monroe likes to lean backwards to keep from getting hit to the head, and this will make it difficult for Golovkin to hit him square with head shots unless he smothers him against the ropes. But if Golovkin does this, Monroe will clinch him like he did all night long against Brian Vera. Golovkin can hit Monroe with body shots, but it’s going to be a case of Golovkin landing while Monroe is on the run.
HBO gave the green light to this fight. Hopefully they know what they’re doing, because this fight has the hallmarks of being an ugly affair, especially if Monroe runs and holds as much as he did in his last fight against Brian Vera.
That was a nearly unwatchable fight due to Monroe’s holding and running. Vera was chasing Monroe around the ring all night long, and it wasn’t even remotely entertaining.
It’s a fight where Golovkin could wind up being made to look really bad unless he hits the constantly moving Monroe with a big enough shot to end the fight early. Monroe will make it difficult for Golovkin to get his shots off, because he’s going to be a moving target for 12 rounds.
Even when Golovkin does catch up to Monroe, you can count on him being immediately tied up in a clinch. Monroe is an expert in the punch and grab technique we’ve seen from other fighters.
It’s not entertaining or even close to being entertaining, but it’s effective. If the referee fails to control Monroe’s clinching, he’s likely to use this tactic again and again on May 16th to keep Golovkin from getting his punches off each time he catches up to Monroe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLHK34ySqaQ
The Golovkin-Monroe fight will be shown on HBO Championship Boxing. It is unclear now who will be on the undercard, or if HBO will even bother showing an undercard.
Monroe, 28, captured the 2014 Boxcino middleweight tournament by beating Brandon Adams, Vitaliy Kopylenko and Donatas Bondorovas. Monroe didn’t beat any recognizable names unfortunately.
It’s hard to know how good Monroe is as a fighter because he’s never fought anyone good yet. He lost to journeyman Darnell Boone by an 8 round split decision four years ago in 2011. It was easy to see how Monroe lost the fight, because the judges were more impressed with Boone’s hard power shots rather than the slapping shots that Monroe landed.
That’s Monroe’s whole problem. He slaps too much, and he does far too much holding and running for his own good. If he would sit in the pocket more, stop holding, and put more power in his shots, he could be an entertaining fighter. But I’m not so sure he would be able to beat the top guys by standing in one place. Usually movers do it for a reason. He might be trying to hide a weak chin.
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