Boxing’s biggest sensation is ready to do it again.
Gennady Golovkin has knocked out and stopped 27 out of the 30 previous competitors that were placed in front of him, giving him the highest knockout percentage in middleweight championship history. The champion puts that record on the line this Saturday at the Stubhub Center in Carson when he squares off against Marco Antonio Rubio.
After Golovkin beat Daniel Geale in Australia, HBO’s Max Kellerman called the fighter ‘the hottest attraction in any sport’ but apparently the world still needs to notice everything Golovkin has done.
“What you tend to forget is that just two years ago, he was fighting in the U.S. for the first time,” said Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, before a recent workout at The Summit, his Big Bear gym. “We’ve come a long way since then.”
Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s manager, said he had to campaign to get HBO interested in his fighter. The turning point was at Turning Stone Resort in Syracuse where Golovkin was matched against Polish veteran Gregorz Proska. Five rounds later, after a punishing performance by Golovkin, HBO finally seemed to give a damn about the promising puncher.
When asked about his knockout ability, Golovkin remains humble.
“It’s just natural,” Golovkin said. “I always had it in the amateurs, but that was more like a computer game, ding-ding-ding. It’s very important to have the timing and the right distance.”
“He’s always looking for perfection,” Sanchez said. “You can see it in the fight against (Osumanu) Adama. He was a little bored, so he’d throw a punch and then look down at his arm, to see if he really had done it right.”