MASHANTUCKET, CT — It was supposed to be Gennady Golovkin’s toughest fight to date. The fighter affectionately known as “GGG” was going to get tested and go rounds by having to face a “natural middleweight” who gave division kingpin Sergio Martinez all he could handle. What we got is Golovkin having one of his easiest fights to date with an efficient, assassin-like deconstruction of Matthew Macklin for his 14th straight knockout win.
The boxing world is still buzzing with promoters and fighters giving their take on what’s next for the happy-go-lucky beast from Kazakhstan. Let’s get into how Macklin was quickly introduced as the latest member of GGG’s “Good Boy Club.”
GGG WASTES NO TIME: From the outset. Golovkin’s offense was varied and deadly. The left jab had no problems landing with authority even with Macklin attempting to move. Golovkin’s footwork, perhaps his most underrated asset, allowed him to cut off the ring with ease while Macklin’s nervous energy had him frantically dashing among the ring’s four corners.
Coming behind the jab were ripping left hooks, one of which that made Macklin stumble into the ropes. When Macklin tried to adjust by circling to his left, he then found himself in the range of Golovkin’s right hand, resulting in the challenger getting buzzed even worse with chopping shots.
The second round was no better with Golovkin walking through Macklin’s best and abusing him with hooks and uppercuts inside. Macklin’s only reprieve came late in the round when a doubled up right hand to the body and head temporarily backed off GGG’s assault.
A QUICK LAST STAND: Macklin realized by the third he wasn’t quick enough to get away from Golovkin’s stalking, making his only chance to win being a Hail Mary shot. He did an admirable job of trying to do it by landing several clean left hooks as Golovkin returned fire with uppercuts and hooks of his own. The power and accuracy disparity soon had Macklin with his back on the ropes, and Golovkin launched a stabbing left hook to the body that put Maclkin’s pain receptors into screaming agony.
Macklin immediately yelled out and fell to his knees. The continuing pain put him on his side and into the resemblance of a beached fish in death throes as referee Eddie Cotton’s ten count was a foregone conclusion.
HAVING FUN WITH “REGULAR WORK:” As nice as Gennady Golovkin’s demeanor is, he has what all elite athletes retain — self-assured, borderline cockiness regarding the extent of their abilities. The man goes in there with no fear that anyone can hang with him, and more and more it’s looking like that’s the absolute truth. He called his performance just “regular work” (aka just the average ass-whoopings I hand out) and a gift to American fight fans. It made sense that he framed it like that, since earlier this week he made it a point to call the Klitschko brothers boring and his extreme desire not to be seen in that light.
THE NEXT “GOOD BOY:” Ever since Golovkinreferred to January KO victim Gabriel Rosado as a “good boy” (the language barrier making it an unintentionally hilarious comment), the phrase has taken on a world of its own among writers and fans to describe all of Golovkin’s conquests. So who’s next in line to get punished? Respect must be given to WBO middleweight titlist Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, who quickly took to Twitter to state his willingness to unify with GGG
Unfortunately, Quillin’s Golden Boy affiliation all but ensures HBO won’t even give him a second look. Lou DiBella, who co-promoted last night’s card with Golovkin’s K2 Promotions, told ringside press right after the bout that he had no intention of putting Sergio Martinez in there with GGG, calling the power-punching phenom an “animal.” You can’t really blame Lou for those sentiments. It would have been a very hard even for the pre-Chavez version of Martinez to defeat Golovkin. The one we saw arguably lose a few months back would take a retirement-level beating.
The likely opponent will be IBF champ Daniel Geale, who previously turned down a GGG match to defend against Anthony Mundine in Australia. Geale will make his HBO debut August 17 against Darren Baker, so it’s logical the winner unifies with Golovkin, leading to a Martinez matchup in early 2014.
What I don’t want to see if Golovkin having to move up to “save” Andre Ward. I say “save” because Ward is in dire need of an opponent since he’s playing hardball with Froch and seemingly not completely keen on moving to 175 just yet. Golovkin is on board in saying he’d fight Ward at 168, but I hope HBO lets him clean out middleweight before even considering a move up.
****For those who missed it, watch the full fight below courtesy of Sweetboxing. Click the picture to watch.****
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OOSTHUIZEN GETS A GIFT AGAINST GONZALES: South Africa’s Thomas Oosthuizen was considered as a Golovkin opponent back in January, so many were interested to see what the 6’4 super-middleweight looked like. If his performance last night was any indication, Golovkin would have been the last fight Oosthuizen would want to face. Oosthuizen was consistently beat to the punch the entire night, being woefully outgunned by Brandon Gonzales’ more accurats shots inside and counter-punhing. To his credit, Oosthuizen never stopped trying and did much better over the fight’s second half and succeeded in stunning Gonzales a few times with southpaw right hooks and left uppercuts. However, his work was nowhere near enough to justify a draw (95-95 via Clark Sammartino), let alone Peter Hary’s ridiculous score of 96-94 for Oosthuizen. Gonzales got a correct score of 98-92 from judge Clark Sammartino, resulting in the majority draw. From what we saw last night, Oosthuizen’s size just makes him cannon fodder for the elites at 168.
NELSON SURVIVES CUELLO’S PRESSURE: It wasn’t a good night for tall fighters, as the opener saw 6’3 light middleweight Willie Nelson have to hold on for dear life several times to escape the pressure of a 5’9 but very tough Luciano Leonel Cuello. Full of confidence from his Friday Night Fights KO of Michael Medina a few months back, Nelson stormed out and bombed Cuello to the body with right and left hooks. Cuello went nowhere and the inside warfare soon benefited Cuello’s shorter reach, and he hurt Nelson in the third and cut him over the right eye.
If Cuello’s feet were a bit faster, this would have likely been a KO win for him. Instead, Nelson was able to use his jab to stay away enough to rack up rounds despite Cuello doing more damage and nearly scoring a KO in the 10th. Nelson clinched so much in that final stanza that he was warned by referee Tony Weeks. Despite Cuello’s heroics, the right man won in Nelson taking a unanimous decision by scores of 97-93 twice and 96-94.
Nelson’s trainer Jack Lowe stole the show with his profanity-laced tirades on the stupidity of Nelson repeatedly compromising his height and banging inside. Hopefully, this was a wake-up call for Nelson to use his physical gifts and realize he won’t be able to run through guys as he continues moving up the ranks.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 