By Allan Fox: WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) will be looking to turn his fight against the slick southpaw Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1, 6 KOs) into a big drama show a week and a half from now on May 16th at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Golovkin has been training extensively at tracking down speedy fighters like Monroe during this camp, and he feels he’s ready to make this an exciting fight when he faces Monroe on HBO World Championship Boxing.
Golovkin didn’t have to take the fight against Monroe, as he could have selected an opponent less mobile who fights out of the orthodox fighting stance. But Golovkin wanted to face the style that would give him the most trouble, and he feels that Monroe potentially could be that type of fighter.
You really can’t blame Golovkin for wanting to face someone with a difficult fighting style because he’s had things pretty easy in the past 18 fights with him knocking out everybody he’s faced. Monroe could be the guy that will give Golovkin some rounds if nothing else.
“Hopefully, Willie will be ready to fight because we’ll have a strong fight and a good performance for the fans,” Golovkin said. “I promise a big drama show. I hope he is ready also.”
It could prove to be difficult for Golovkin to force Monroe into a “big drama show” like he’s talking about because Monroe moves a great deal, and likes to change direction frequently, throw quick flurries, and tie up his opponents. He’s almost impossible to hit cleanly with anything. He has one loss his record that occurred in the past in a close 8 round fight against Darnell Boone, but since that fight Monroe has improved immensely. But even in that fight, Monroe likely would have won it had the fight gone 10 or 12 rounds. He was fighting well in the later rounds of that fight.
“For Willie, we have a couple things that we’re working on to combat some of his, not only movement, but also the way he tries to be slick,” Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez said. “Willie Monroe’s not a standard southpaw. He’s very slick. He has very good wheels, so it’s going to be a process of trying to cut him off and practicing that in the gym to be able to cut him off and react to the situations, so he’s done it very well.”
Golovkin has always been good at cutting off the ring against his opponents so you can expect nothing less than that on May 16th. But Monroe is the best in the business in moving around the ring, and even a fighter like Golovkin is going to find out how difficult it is to connect with anything against Monroe.
As far as the strategy that Sanchez is talking about, he really can’t do much other than making sure that Golovkin takes advantage of each opportunity he has when he’s able to trap Monroe against the ropes. Golovkin will also need to make sure that he keeps fighting when clinched because Monroe may look to clinch frequently in the fight. He’s not going to just let Golovkin get his shots off when he traps him. Monroe will definitely tie Golovkin up when he catches up to him in the ring.
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