By Allan Fox: WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) has picked out a really tough fighter in #2 WBA, #5 WBO, #9 WBC, #15 IBF Willie Monroe Jr (19-1, 6 KOs) to deal with in their fight next month on May 16th at the Forum, in Inglewood, California, USA.
What’s so different about this fight for Golovkin is that he’ll be facing a tall, speedy southpaw in Monroe Jr, and that’s going to be really tough on Golokvin to try and solve the American’s style of fighting. Monroe is completely different from anyone that Golovkin has ever fought before.
Golovkin, who just turned 33 last Wednesday, has only fought one mobile fighter during his career in his recent fight against England’s Martin Murray last February, but Murray’s foot and hand speed is nothing like that of Monroe. We’re talking about two completely different fighters.
Monroe is a southpaw who is quite elusive like a young Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Golovkin hasn’t looked all that fast on his feet since turning pro in 2006. Golovkin is good at cutting off the ring on his opponents, but that’s not something that you can count on him being able to do because of Monroe’s lightning fast feet, and his tendency to tie up his opponents each time he gets close to them.
Monroe learned a valuable lesson in his 8 round split decision loss to Darnell Boone in 2011. Monroe learned that you need to tie up the powerful guys when they get in close in order to keep them from getting their shots off. That’s what Monroe is likely going to do when he gets Golovkin in the ring next month.
Golovkin wanted the Monroe fight specifically due to him being so different and so difficult compared to the guys that he’s faced in the past. Golovkin wanted a guy that was going to be a puzzle for him to try and figure out, and that’s exactly what he’s gotten in the form of Monroe. This is a fight that Golovkin is going to need to show a lot more urgency and power than he showed in the Murray fight, because if he’s slow and lethargic looking like he was against Murray, we could see an upset on May 16th with Monroe winning.
Even if Monroe is able to extend Golovkin the whole distance, it would be interpreted as a minor victory for Monroe because he will have shown a flaw in Golovkin’s armor that can potentially be exploited in the future by other fighters. You can bet that whatever flaws that Monroe exposes in the Golovkin fight next month, other fighters will be using Monroe’s style as a blue print in how to beat Golovkin in the future.
It’s not going to be easy for the other top fighters at 160 and 168 to be able to mimic what Monroe will be doing because not too many fighters have his hand and foot speed as well as his elusiveness. But there will definitely be other guys that will feel like they’ve got what it takes to beat Golovkin in the future. One of those fighters will likely be Erislandy Lara, who has already attempted to get a fight against Gokovkin in the past with no luck.
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