Last Week: Golovkin's Drama Show and Gonzalez's Murky Future
Last Week: Golovkin's Drama Show and Gonzalez's Murky Future
By Jonathan SnowdenSports are television's greatest drama. The participants, larger than life men and women, titilate us with a glimpse of what we might hav
By Jonathan Snowden
Sports are television's greatest drama.
The participants, larger than life men and women, titilate us with a glimpse of what we might have been, if only in our imaginations. We marvel at their audacity and courage, their mental acuity and pure force of will.
In the world of boxing, there's no more dramatic show than Gennady Golovkin’s.
In the ring he's a master, a technical craftsman willing to to toss that to the side in order to give fans the slugfests they crave. And the fight is just the beginning. When the blood has spilled and the bodies have hit the floor, act two begins, with Golovkin's charming broken english bringing a smile to even the biggest curmudgeons in a sport full of them.
Opposite Golovkin Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, CA was Dominic Wade, an overmatched middleweight pretender who somehow attained mandatory competitor status.
Gifted a career payday by boxing’s arcane machinery, Wade wandered into the ring to the sounds of the late, great Prince, sporting lime green trunks and a soft mid-section. While Wade’s entrance had become revamped as a requiem for the dead, Golovkin’s mariachi rock was a celebration of boxing's continued life.
The “fight”, using that term loosely, went as expected.
Golovkin dropped Wade late in the first and then twice more in the second. It was never competitive, nor was it expected to be. For Golovkin, this was his 32nd KO in 35 fights and 22nd consecutive stoppage.
The post fight interview and subsequent meeting of the minds on HBO revolved largely around the possibility of Canelo Alvarez, linear middleweight champion, fighting Golovkin in a pay-per-view megafight. Much of the chatter was about what would happen if Alvarez refuses to make the fight—something that should tell you everything you need to know about the sport of boxing in 2016.
Opening the HBO program was another big knockout puncher, flyweight Roman Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs). Unlike Golovkin, Gonzalez has already fought many of the premier talents in the various weight classes around which he operates. Unfortunately, he did it before making a name for himself in the United States, leaving him without any obvious commercial fight on the horizon.
McWilliams Arroyo was brought in as his live body Saturday night, and Arroyo at least offered the potential of some resistance. Indeed, Arroyo managed to win, were one exceedingly kind to him, perhaps three of the first four round. He tagged Gonzalez with power shots, but as time went on, “Chocolatito” displayed a clear separation in class. Arroyo didn’t vary his punching, move well, or utilize body punching well enough to prevent Gonzalez from both timing him and swarming in. By the time the final bell rang to close the 12th, Gonzalez had thrown over 1100 punches and Arroyo’s face showed it.
There wasn't much discussion of Gonzalez's next fight. Some names were thrown out here and there (Juan Francisco Estrada, Kazuto Ioka), but the effort seemed empty. Gonzalez’s path to stardom, despite his obvious excellence, still seems murky.
- Nonito Donaire returned to the ring in the Phillippines on Saturday, quickly wiping out Zsolt Bedak in just three rounds. Bedak came forward looking to pressure Donaire early, but that backfired when Donaire’s left hooks and uppercuts started to land exceedingly hard in the second round. The bout could best be considered a confidence builder for Donaire and a Golovkin-esque “drama show” for his fans in Cebu City.
Despite the big win, we know little more about where Donaire currently stands. Bedak is a B-class fighter on his best day. Despite that,Donaire showed an unwillingness to seek and destroy a clearly hurt and dispirited Bedak in the second round. Donaire did eventually finish the job in round three, but the tentative Donaire of the last 5 years still lurks just beneath the surface.
- Tuesday’s Fox Sports 1 card featured a pair of exciting back and forth contests; Ivan Redkach (19-1-1) and Luis Cruz (22-4-1) fought to a draw in a dramatic contest featuring three called knockdowns. But the fight of the weekend was one only the hardest of hardcores likely saw: Mark Magsayo vs. Chris Avalos from the Donaire/Bedak undercard. Magsayo is being positioned as the future of Filipino boxing, and while the jury is still out on whether or not he’ll ever arrive, his wide swinging, suspect chin, and big punch mean he’ll be exciting to watch whether he makes it or not.
Sports are television's greatest drama.
The participants, larger than life men and women, titilate us with a glimpse of what we might have been, if only in our imaginations. We marvel at their audacity and courage, their mental acuity and pure force of will.
In the world of boxing, there's no more dramatic show than Gennady Golovkin’s.
In the ring he's a master, a technical craftsman willing to to toss that to the side in order to give fans the slugfests they crave. And the fight is just the beginning. When the blood has spilled and the bodies have hit the floor, act two begins, with Golovkin's charming broken english bringing a smile to even the biggest curmudgeons in a sport full of them.
Opposite Golovkin Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, CA was Dominic Wade, an overmatched middleweight pretender who somehow attained mandatory competitor status.
Gifted a career payday by boxing’s arcane machinery, Wade wandered into the ring to the sounds of the late, great Prince, sporting lime green trunks and a soft mid-section. While Wade’s entrance had become revamped as a requiem for the dead, Golovkin’s mariachi rock was a celebration of boxing's continued life.
The “fight”, using that term loosely, went as expected.
Golovkin dropped Wade late in the first and then twice more in the second. It was never competitive, nor was it expected to be. For Golovkin, this was his 32nd KO in 35 fights and 22nd consecutive stoppage.
The post fight interview and subsequent meeting of the minds on HBO revolved largely around the possibility of Canelo Alvarez, linear middleweight champion, fighting Golovkin in a pay-per-view megafight. Much of the chatter was about what would happen if Alvarez refuses to make the fight—something that should tell you everything you need to know about the sport of boxing in 2016.
Opening the HBO program was another big knockout puncher, flyweight Roman Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs). Unlike Golovkin, Gonzalez has already fought many of the premier talents in the various weight classes around which he operates. Unfortunately, he did it before making a name for himself in the United States, leaving him without any obvious commercial fight on the horizon.
McWilliams Arroyo was brought in as his live body Saturday night, and Arroyo at least offered the potential of some resistance. Indeed, Arroyo managed to win, were one exceedingly kind to him, perhaps three of the first four round. He tagged Gonzalez with power shots, but as time went on, “Chocolatito” displayed a clear separation in class. Arroyo didn’t vary his punching, move well, or utilize body punching well enough to prevent Gonzalez from both timing him and swarming in. By the time the final bell rang to close the 12th, Gonzalez had thrown over 1100 punches and Arroyo’s face showed it.
There wasn't much discussion of Gonzalez's next fight. Some names were thrown out here and there (Juan Francisco Estrada, Kazuto Ioka), but the effort seemed empty. Gonzalez’s path to stardom, despite his obvious excellence, still seems murky.
Notes
- Nonito Donaire returned to the ring in the Phillippines on Saturday, quickly wiping out Zsolt Bedak in just three rounds. Bedak came forward looking to pressure Donaire early, but that backfired when Donaire’s left hooks and uppercuts started to land exceedingly hard in the second round. The bout could best be considered a confidence builder for Donaire and a Golovkin-esque “drama show” for his fans in Cebu City.
Despite the big win, we know little more about where Donaire currently stands. Bedak is a B-class fighter on his best day. Despite that,Donaire showed an unwillingness to seek and destroy a clearly hurt and dispirited Bedak in the second round. Donaire did eventually finish the job in round three, but the tentative Donaire of the last 5 years still lurks just beneath the surface.
- Tuesday’s Fox Sports 1 card featured a pair of exciting back and forth contests; Ivan Redkach (19-1-1) and Luis Cruz (22-4-1) fought to a draw in a dramatic contest featuring three called knockdowns. But the fight of the weekend was one only the hardest of hardcores likely saw: Mark Magsayo vs. Chris Avalos from the Donaire/Bedak undercard. Magsayo is being positioned as the future of Filipino boxing, and while the jury is still out on whether or not he’ll ever arrive, his wide swinging, suspect chin, and big punch mean he’ll be exciting to watch whether he makes it or not.