Can Golovkin beat the top 175lb fighters?

By Boxing News - 10/24/2016 - Comments

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By Allan Fox: Unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) is on the verge of cleaning out the 160lb division once he beats Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders and Saul Canelo Alvarez.

Golovkin may not need to defeat Saunders, because he’ll likely be eliminated in early 2017 once he fights the young 26-year-old Canelo Alvarez in a fight that will almost surely wind up on HBO pay-per-view in the United States.

Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy will want him to be seen winning the WBO 160lb title off Saunders on pay-per-view. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez has said recently that he could move up to 175 to take on the big names in that division as soon as he’s done all he can to clean out the 160lb division. This means that the boxing world could see Golovkin facing the likes of the following 175lb fighters: Sergey Kovalev, Andre Ward, Artur Beterbiev, Adonis Stevenson, Joe Smith Jr., Eleider Alvarez, and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“Triple-G beats everybody that’s out there right now, including Kovalev,” Sanchez said to Behind The Gloves.com. “But we’re not at 175, so it’s not something that’s up for discussion. But I think Triple-G would beat Kovalev. I think Triple-G would beat Andre Ward, I think Triple-G would beat Stevenson. But right now we’re at 160 and until we move up then we can talk about those [match-ups], because I think they could be possibilities in the future.”

Of those fighters, Kovalev and Stevenson probably would present the biggest problems for Golovkin due to their punching power and overall boxing skills. That’s not to say that Ward, Beterbiev, Alvarez and Gvozdyk won’t be a problem for Golovkin to figure out, but they’re arguably less of a threat than Kovalev and Stevenson due to their punching power.

One thing that is working against Golovkin moving up in weight to take on the big names at 175 is his age. Golovkin is about to turn 35-years-old next April, and he’s racing against time right now. Unless Golovkin moves up in weight soon, he could age out before he moves up in weight. If the other top middleweights were willing to fight Golovkin right away, he could beat them and move up in weight to light heavyweight by the start of 2018. Golovkin would be 36 by that point, and likely still young enough to take on the best in the light heavyweight division and possibly beat them all to take over that division. However, with the way that the top middleweights are dragging things out, it might take Golovkin another two years before he finishes fighting the last three – Jacobs, Canelo and Saunders – so that he can move on.

It’s sad that it will likely take Golovkin two years to fight three guys, but that’s the politics of boxing. The promoters for different fighters don’t want to put their fighters in risky fights unless they’re sure that they’ll absolutely win or get a big payday in losing. We saw that in Canelo taking on Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. If that wasn’t a huge money fight for Canelo, we’d likely still be waiting to see him take on Mayweather, even though it would help his career in the long run by making him a bigger name.

If Canelo took on Golovkin, it would help his career as well no matter how badly he’s beaten by him. However, I don’t think Canelo’s management sees things that way. They obviously have noticed the drop in Canelo’s pay-per-view numbers in the last year, and they’re probably not going to risk putting him in with Golovkin and seeing Canelo’s PPV numbers drop off even more if/when he’s knocked out by him.

Here are the top 175lb fighters and my analysis of a fight between them and Triple G:

Sergey Kovalev – This would be the toughest fight for the 5’10 ½” Golovkin to win of the 175lb fighters. Golovkin has to put pressure on Kovalev for him to get a KO in this fight. Golovkin can’t stay on the outside.

Adonis Stevenson – Golovkin would have too much power, boxing skills and experience for Stevenson.

Andre Ward – If this was 2011, Ward would beat Golovkin. Right now, Golovkin easily beats Ward. The Oakland fighter has aged in the last five years.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk – This might be one of the easier fights for Golovkin at 175.

Eleider Alvarez – This is another easy fight for Golovkin. Alvarez doesn’t throw enough punches to beat GGG.

Artur Beterbiev – Golovkin would have to be careful with Beterbiev’s power early on, because he’s dangerous.

Joe Smith Jr. – Golovkin wins this fight as long as he doesn’t get hit by one of Smith’s right hands early.