Monroe sees his fighting style as a puzzle for Golovkin

By Boxing News - 05/13/2015 - Comments

Image: Monroe sees his fighting style as a puzzle for GolovkinBy Allan Fox: #2 WBA Willie Monroe (19-1, 6 KOs) will present a difficult puzzle for IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs) to try and solve this Saturday night in their fight at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Up until now, Golovkin has mostly been matched against flat-footed fighters that came straight at him. He’s not had to face a slick fighter like the 28-year-old Monroe. For that reason we could see a much more average looking Golovkin on Saturday because he’s not going to have a slow, stationary fighter for him to get his shots off against.

Golovkin is going to need to walk through a lot of shots for him to get his own punches in, and he may end up getting busted up and bruised along the way before this fight is done.

“These are the opportunities I relish.” Monroe said via Fightnews.com. “I am a stylistic enigma to the style of Gennady’s. He feels he can beat anyone and on May 16th one will come out on top.”

Monroe’s fighting style is nothing short of a nightmare for a fighter like Golovkin. Monroe moves constantly, has long arms that he uses to keep his opponent on the outside, and he’s got very fast hand speed. He’s got elements of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s fighting style. He can do a lot of the same things that Mayweather can do when he’s fighting out of the defensive mode. If Monroe chooses to not let Golovkin hit him on Saturday, he’s very likely to accomplish that goal.

Last year, Monroe captured ESPN’s Boxcino tournament with several good wins. Monroe topped that accomplishment by easily beating Brian Vera in his last fight in beating him by an impressive 10 round decision.

“Saturday night there is a big present for everyone,” Golovkin said. “For boxing fans. This is a big deal. A big present. I promise a great event at the Forum in California.”

Golovkin’s big present to the boxing fans is him attempting to score a 20th straight knockout victory. It’s a great goal for Golovkin to have, but I think it’s very likely that he’s not going to be able to beat Monroe by a knockout. At this point it’s going to be tough for Golovkin to even get a victory because Monroe is a style nightmare to fight. It’s the wrong style for Golovkin, because he usually fights guys that have poor mobility. Monroe could wind up exposing Golovkin’s lack of hand and foot speed in this fight.



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