By Jim Dower: IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) knocked challenger Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2, 6 KOs) out in the 6th round on Saturday night after Monroe quit after a knockdown at the on Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, California. This victory for Golovkin gives him his 20th consecutive knockout. Monroe had said there was no way he was going to get knocked out in this fight, but unfortunately he couldn’t back up his words.
Golovkin knocked Monroe down three times in the fight. He dropped Monroe twice in the 2nd round and once in the 6th. Monroe barely made it up to beat the count in the 6th round. However, when asked by referee Jack Reiss if he wanted to continue, Monroe said “I’m done.” The ending was kind of anti-climatic because Monroe should have at least tried to continue fighting, but it didn’t look like he had the heart to take another big left hook from Golovkin after eating some tremendous lefts in the 6th.
It’s a good thing that Monroe quit at that point because Golovkin had gotten serious with him playing with him for the three previous rounds by letting him survive. Had Monroe continued to fight in the 6th, he would have been bludgeoned into submission. There was no way that Monroe would have survived. The difference between the way that Golovkin fought in the 6th and how he fought in rounds 3 through 5 was like night and day. Golovkin really sat down on his shots in the 6th, and Monroe could not handle that kind of punching power.
Monroe was fortunate to survive the first knockdown of the 2nd round when Golovkin landed a crushing left hook to the jaw that sent Monroe staggering to the canvas. That punch really drained Monroe of his senses. Moments later, Golovkin landed a flurry of punches and sent Monroe down a 2nd time. Monroe got up and was staggered by another big shot from Golovkin. However, Monroe was able to survive the round just barely.
In round 3, Monroe stopped moving as much, and focused more on staying in the pocket and exchanging with Golokvin. Monroe landed some nice shots, but it was still a clear Golovkin round.
Monroe landed a lot of punches in the 4th round, as Golovkin was standing in front of him and not throwing as many shots. For a fighter who wasn’t supposed to have much punching power, Monroe connected with some very shot shots to the head and body of Golovkin. You can make an argument that Monroe fought well enough to win the 4th.
Golovkin came out like a rocket at the start of the 5th, landing some powerful left hooks to the body and right hands to the head. Golovkin staggered Monroe early in the round with a left hook to the draw. Monroe came back though strong in the last minute of the round in landing some straight lefts and right hooks to the head of Golovkin.
In between the 5th and the 6th, Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez got on his case telling him that he couldn’t let Monroe get busy the way he was on offense. The talk seemed to motivate Golovkin because he came out on fire at the start of the 6th round and looked like the same fighter that had Monroe almost out in 2nd round. Golovkin was landing some HUGE shots in the 6th, and hadn’t been punching like that in rounds 3 through 5.
At the start of the 6th, Golovkin staggered Monroe with a left uppercut to the head. Golovkin then landed two thudding left hooks to the head that put Monroe down on the canvas. Monroe stayed down until the count of 9, and barely made it to his feet as the referee Jack Reiss counted to 10. It looked like Monroe actually didn’t beat the count, but Reiss gave him a break by not counting him out. Reiss lectured Monroe at that point, telling him that he almost didn’t beat the count. Reiss then asked Monroe if he wanted to continue fighting, and he said “no,” and that was it. After all that bold talk from Monroe before the fight about how he was a warrior, it was strange to see him quitting on his feet in that way. It just looked like he didn’t want to go out on his shield the way real warriors typically do. If the fight had continued, Golovkin would have likely decapitated Monroe with a left hook or a fight hand. It would have been a great way of finishing the fight. But Monroe needed to show some survival skills by looking to clinch to see if he could make it out of the round, but he was having none of that.
Golovkin landed 133 of 297 punches for 45% connect percentage, according to CompuBox. Monroe landed 87 of 305 punches for 29 percent connect percentage.
“First, I showed him who’s the real champ,” Golovkin said after the fight. “Second, I gave him a chance. I didn’t lose control. Yes, of course,” Golovkin said in saying that he allowed Monroe to survive after he’d knocked him down twice in the 2nd round. “This is not just five minutes. All my friends come to the show. I stay right here. I gave real present. I want unification fight. Bring it. I stay here. I want my big fight. I say not for the future. I want big fight now. I am waiting for Miguel [Cotto] and Canelo. I respect Andre Ward, a great athlete. First of all, I say Canelo and Cotto. After that, Andre Ward.”
Golovkin may end up waiting a long, long time for Canelo and Cotto to fight him because neither of those guys appear to be interested in taking that fight. Those guys are likely to steer clear of Golovkin until they have no else to fight.
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WBC World flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs) made short work of former WBC 108 pound champion Edgar Sosa (51-9, 30 KOs) in stopping him in the 2nd round on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs. Willie Monroe Jr. card.
After landing some bombs in the 1st round, Gonzalez upped the pressure in the 2nd in dropping Sosa three times before referee Raul Caiz Sr. halted the fight at 2:37 of the 2nd round. Sosa was just out of his class, and didn’t have the chin to stand up to the huge power from Gonzalez.
After the fight, Gonzalez was asked if he’d be interested in facing WBO bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue, and Gonzalez said he’d be open to fighting whoever HBO wants him to fight.
Other boxing results on the card:
Ruslan Madiyev KO 2 Julio Sanchez
Pedro Duran TKO 6 Daniel Perales
Seniesa Estrada MD 6 Carly Batey
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