By Dan Ambrose: Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2, 6 KOs) may have lost to IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) last Saturday night by a 6th round, but to listen to Monroe Jr. after the fight, you’d think he was the one that won and not Golovkin. Monroe was really patting himself on the back for his effort, and talking about how easy it was for him to land his shots against Golovkin.
Monroe, who actually quit on his feet in the 6th rather than going out on his shield, even said that he fought like a warrior and said that they would have had to kill him to get him out of the ring.
Having seen how Monroe actually quit after making it back on his feet on what appeared to be strong legs, his words don’t match what actually transpired in the ring last Saturday. Monroe was knocked down three times in the fight by Golovkin.
After the bout, Golovkin said that he kept Monroe around in order to give boxing fans a show. Golovkin could have knocked Monroe out quickly in the fight but kept him around. But by keeping Monroe around, it seems to have given Monroe the belief that he was actually in the fight and not just being toyed with by Golovkin.
“He [Golovkin] was easy to hit but he takes a good shot.” My speed gave him some problems today. I’ve got a big heart. You’ve got to kill me. I’ve got the heart of a champion. I got off more on the inside and pushed him back. When I was slipping and dodging, he was missing some big shots and I was making him pay.”
With the way Monroe quit in the 6th round in which he waited until the count of 9 before beginning to rise, it looked to some like Monroe was trying to get counted out but with controversy because he could then potentially argue that the referee stopped the fight prematurely. But the referee Jack Reiss gave Monroe a break by allowing the fight to continue even though he got up right at the count of 10. The fight could have been stopped right then and there. But at that point when Reiss asked Monroe if he wanted to continue, he said “I’m done.”
Monroe really didn’t look that hurt compared to other fighters after they’ve been knocked down. Monroe wasn’t staggering, and he just looked over-matched and over-whelmed by the power and the huge disparity of talent between him and Golovkin. Monroe looked like someone who wasn’t up to the task in front of him. But when you see him talking about him having the “heart of a champion” and how “you’ve got to kill me” in order to beat him, his words don’t match how the fight ended. Fighters like that are ones that go out on their shield, not someone who quits after getting up from a knockdown.
“Gennady had him out in the second round but it looked like he let him get back in the fight. He said he wanted the fans to get more of their money’s worth and then he broke him down,” said Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler to ESPN.com.
I believe Loeffler and Golovkin in them saying that Monroe was carried in this fight for six rounds rather than the fight being competitive due to anything that Monroe was doing inside the ring. I think that Golovkin could have finished Monroe off in the 2nd round after he knocked him down two times. If you look at that round a second time, you can see that Golovkin seemed to ease back on the throttle after knocking Monroe down the 2nd time in the round. Instead of loading up on his shots after the 2nd knockdown, Golovkin appeared to lessen the power on his shots and let Monroe survive.
In rounds three through five, Golovkin wasn’t loading up on his shots like he did in the 2nd round. But in the 6th, Golovkin suddenly started throwing shots with incredible power, and Monroe wilted immediately. In fact. Monroe fell down without even getting hit. The last two punches that Golovkin threw in the round, he missed. Monroe just fell down in what appeared to be a bump from Golovkin rather than a punch. Instead of Monroe getting up to continue fighting, he quit when the referee asked him if he wanted to continue fighting.
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