World Boxing Association (“WBA”) and International Boxing Organization (“IBO”) middleweight champion, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin was suppose to face his most difficult opponent of his career in Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin, a two world challenger who fought well against world champions, Sergio Gabriel Martinez and Felix Strum; yet Golovkin had no problem in destroying him in the third round.
He dominated the first two rounds and had Macklin almost knockdown several times, including in the first round where Macklin was saved by the bell and he cut him over the right eye in the second round. Then with 1:22 left in the third round, he delivered one of the knockouts of the year, a left hook to the body that had Macklin withering in pain on the canvas where he was counted out by Referee Eddie Cotton and he stayed there for several moments before he got up on his own.
This fight happened last Saturday, June 29th at the Foxwoods Resort and Casino at the MGM Grand Theater in Mashantucket, Connecticut and was televised on HBO Boxing After Dark. This bout and the undercard was presented by Dibella Entertainment and K2 Promotions.
“I was in the perfect position to threw that shot and it was a great punch. It was an easy fight for me, he never hurt me,” said Golovkin. “I want to fight any of the world champions in my division, anytime, anywhere.”
The silver medalist in the 2004 Olympics improved his record to 27-0, 24KOs and has 14 consecutive knockouts, nine of them in title bouts. He retained his WBA Belt for the eighth time and the IBO Strap for the fifth time. Golovkin has knocked out 88 percent of his opponents, which is the highest percentage among active world title holders. Macklin, meanwhile, dropped 29-5, 20KOs and is 0-3 in world title fights.
Golovkin is the real deal in the middleweight division and carries a powerful punch that few fighters can match. He has underrated speed, good defense, a great jab, throws a lot of punches each round and is pretty accurate with landing his shots. He doesn`t appear at the momentum to have any significant weakness, although if there was one thing you can criticize GGG on, it`s that he hasn`t faced the best competition, thus far in his career.
While Macklin is a good boxer, he`s not a top ten fighter and he has already lost two world title fights. In order for boxing fans to see how good Golovkin really is and how far he can move up the middleweight division and the potential pound for pound rankings, he needs to face top ten fighters in his division, which hopefully happens this year, in November, when he`s tentatively schedule to fight next.
Despite the loss, Macklin has no shame in losing to the best and he hung in there with Golovkin for two and half rounds, except Golovkin was landing the more powerful punches. Golovkin threw 116 punches and connected on 58 of them for a 50 percent accuracy while Macklin threw 118 punches, connected on 29 of them for a 25 percent accuracy. Macklin is a tough fighter who always comes ready to box and has fought against good competition. In due time, he`ll have another opportunity to fight for a world title.
“He`s the best and a great champion,” said Macklin. “I felt the weight of every punch he threw and no one has hit me harder than he has. Golovkin is by far the best fighter I`ve ever been in the ring with and it will be a while before anyone beats him at 160 pounds.”
Hopefully, Golovkin fights the other middleweight champions, Martinez, Daniel Geale and Peter Quillin, which would be great fights and help to determine who the best fighter is in the middleweight division and at the momentum, I have Golovkin, as the favorite in those potential bouts.