Gennady Golovkin has torn through boxing’s middleweight division with a rare blend of patience, technique and weapons-grade power in both hands.
But in an era when elite fighters seldom compete more often than twice a year, it’s Golovkin’s ambitious schedule that’s truly sets him apart.
The charismatic Kazakh knockout artist known as Triple G will meet Willie Monroe Jr on 16 May at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler announced the match on Friday.
The fight will happen less than three months after Golovkin’s 11th-round stoppage of Martin Murray in Monaco, which elevated his record to 32-0 with 29 knockouts – the highest KO percentage in middleweight championship history (90.1%) and a better clip than Mike Tyson after 32 fights.
GGG has now finished 19 straight opponents inside the distance, a streak that extends back to an eight-round decision during the Bush administration.
That’s good. Too good. No one wants to fight him.
Golovkin holds the WBA’s piece of the fractured middleweight title. Though few doubt GGG is the most dangerous 160lb fighter in the world, the lineal champion of the division is Miguel Cotto, the former 140, 147 and 154lb champion who captured the WBC title from a shopworn Sergio Martinez last year.
Cotto, who last week inked a promotional deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports that included a reported $5m signing bonus, has shown no interest in fighting Golovkin – the clear-cut No1 contender in the division where he’s, at least nominally, the top dog.
That leaves GGG with a stay-busy defense against Monroe Jr, a 28-year-old from upstate New York with a 19-1 record and six knockouts. He is not expected to offer much of a challenge. It will mark the Kazakh’s second fight in the Los Angeles area, where he moved last year. He drew a venue-record crowd of 9,323 to the StubHub Center in October for his win over Marco Antonio Rubio.
In a short time Golovkin has thrust himself into the pound-for-pound conversation while drawing straightfaced comparisons to such all-time iconic middleweights as Bernard Hopkins, Marvin Hagler and Carlos Monzon.
At this rate, he may never get a chance to prove it.
