By Dan Ambrose: #8 WBA middleweight contender Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2, 6 KOs) says he wants a rematch against IBO/WBA middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs), who beat him by a 6th round knockout loss last month on May 16th in Inglewood, California.
The southpaw Monroe figures that he should be able to get a rematch against Golovkin if he defeats two top quality 160 pound contenders. Monroe has been pushed down the World Boxing Association’s top 15 ranking to No.8, so he’s going to need to defeat a couple of good middleweight contenders for him to get ranked high enough to where Golovkin will be forced to fight him again.
Monroe was knocked down three times by Golovkin. However, despite being dropped over and over, Monroe wasn’t too complimentary of Golovkin’s ability afterwards. Monroe claimed that it wasn’t hard to hit the Kazakhstan star, and that his speed was giving him a lot of problems.
“He [Golovkin] was easy to hit but he takes a good shot,” Monroe said. “My speed gave him some problems today. When I was slipping and dodging, he was missing some big shots and I was making him pay.”
Monroe will need to put together a more complete game the next time he faces Golovkin, because he was definitely getting nailed frequently by him. Monroe did land an occasional good shot, but for the most part, it was all Golovkin. There were really only three rounds where Golovkin appeared to be actively trying to put Monroe away, and those were the 2nd, 5th and 6th rounds. Interestingly enough, Golovkin hurt Monroe in all three of those rounds. He dropped Monroe hard in the 2nd, and put him down twice in the 6th. Monroe quit on his feet after the second knockdown in the 6th.
“I would love a rematch, but I will have to beat a couple names to get back to that level,” Monroe said to Fighthype. “I might have to beat a couple of top rated middleweights before they consider me. HBO wants me back in September or October. Now I’m going to fight with a little more urgency and malice. I have a lot of physical gifts.”
Monroe should be looking to beat guys like #1 WBA Chris Eubank Jr., #2 WBA Arif Magomedov, and #3 WBA Tureano Johnson. If Monroe could beat two of those guys, he’ll get pushed up the WBA rankings in a real hurry. However, it’ll be tough for Monroe beat guys like Eubank Jr. and Tureano Johnson because those fighters are very tough. Even Magomedov would be a real handful for Monroe. He’ll have to bring a lot more aggressiveness to the ring to tangle with those guys because if he tries to box his way to a victory like he did with Brian Vera in 2015 or Brandon Adams in 2014, Monroe will very likely get beaten.
There are some other good contenders that Monroe should be looking to fight like Dmitry Chudinov, Curtis Stevens, Sergio Mora and Billy Joe Saunders. Those guys would be good opponents for Monroe if he wants to get pushed up the rankings in a hurry.
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