Golovkin and Gonzalez are Boxing's Hardest Hitting Duo--And Its Best
Golovkin and Gonzalez are Boxing's Hardest Hitting Duo--And Its Best
Gennady Golovkin and Roman Gonzalez join a long list of hard hitting duos to headline side-by-side.
The finer points of pound-for-pound lists can be debated ad infinitum, but if Gennady Golovkin and Roman Gonzalez aren't the two best fighters in the world, they are certainly among the best. It almost seems unfair to have both men, veritable forces of nature that they are, fighting on the same day.
This Saturday Golovkin and Gonzalez -- both undefeated and likely the best middleweight around and the best fighter alive, respectively -- are paired up for the fourth time. Though they aren't fighting on the same card and instead will separate HBO broadcasts from different sites, evenin simply fighting on the same day the implication that they're essentially a duo now is clear.
It should come as no surprise that a boxing promoter would combine two of the sport's hardest-hitting attractions; it's been done successfully time and again.Famed 1920s promoter Tex Rickard stacked cards with "The Wild Bull of the Pampas" Luis Firpo and "The Rochester Plasterer" Fred Fulton, and hewasn't averse to matching two exciting punchers against one another either.
In 1960s and '70s Los Angeles, the legendary George Parnassus brought boxing to the Forum in Inglewood with cards featuring Jose Napoles and Rodrigo Valdes, Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo. And more recently, Don King produced fight cards with Lennox Lewis and Gerald McClellan, and Julian Jackson, Azumah Nelson and Terry Norris.
There is no question that promoters will attempt to maximize a fighter's potential by featuring them alongside other attractions, but this is different. The Golovkin and Gonzalez pairing isdifferent in that it's more deliberate.
Speaking to BoxingScene earlier this year, Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler said, "It was our goal... to give the fans and viewers more value for the hard-earned money they spend to support our events."
That's the answer one would expect from nearly any promoter, but fan response has been very decisive. Golovkin and Gonzalez have averaged 15,000 tickets sold on their shared fight cards, and with Manny Pacquiao phasing himself out of the sport slowly, they are becoming flag bearers for the HBO Boxing brand.
At this stage, it's fair to note that Golovkin's popularity has gotten much closer to the U.S. mainstream than Gonzalez's and his success on HBO has given the Nicaraguan sensation's career a boost. But Gonzalez's multiple-division domination and all around class lends an air of legitimacy to Golovkin, who at 34 is still lacking an emphatic signature victory, and he couldn't play the co-star forever.
"I believe that both fighters, Golovkin and myself, are both main events," Gonzales told ESPN's Dan Rafael last April. "I hope that after [McWilliams Arroyo] they give me an opportunity to be my own main event."
While ticket sales for his showdown with WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras are considerably slower than cards headed by the Kazakh wrecking machine, Gonzalez's promoter Teiken Boxing would have had to find out exactly what kind of progress their charge had made in the U.S. market sooner or later anyway. Besides, this is the opportunity "Chocolatito" wanted and Cuadras' appeal in Mexico should wind up a boon to the promotion.
A victory over Cuadras, which isn't a given, would net Gonzalez a title belt in his fourth weight class and cement his pound-for-pound status. It would also move Gonzalez a division away from the lowest few weight classes -- divisions which historically have failed to draw money and acknowledgement in the U.S. That may be the only way for the diminutive battler's paydays match his plaudits.
On the other hand Golovkin's tussle with welterweight titlist Kell Brook sold out London's O2 Arena in only a few minutes. The meeting is widely considered hopeless for Brook, who is physically gifted and reasonably skilled, but should lack the physicality necessary to fend off the larger knockout artist. Yet a combination of blind hope for Brook and interest in Golovkin's ruinous style is filling the coffers just swell.
Whether Golovkin stays at middleweight for an encounter with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez or moves to a different weight class, he appears poised for even greater career growth and an even wider audience if he wins this weekend. But in Alvarez, Golovkin has a potential foe that could launch him toward mainstream recognition that Gonzalez would likely never achieve.
Nonetheless, if all goes according to plan, Golovkin and Gonzalez will outgrow one another and both will have their own success. They are both wildly popular in their respective home countries, but both also understand and embrace their roles as humble foreign destruction artists here in the U.S.
If nothing else, this split-site fight card featuring four unbeaten world champions should serve to further establish both men as independent box office draws, even if to varying degrees. But as mainstream success remains evasive, boxing may be forced to rely on fighters' desire to join forces and maximize exposure.
This Saturday Golovkin and Gonzalez -- both undefeated and likely the best middleweight around and the best fighter alive, respectively -- are paired up for the fourth time. Though they aren't fighting on the same card and instead will separate HBO broadcasts from different sites, evenin simply fighting on the same day the implication that they're essentially a duo now is clear.
It should come as no surprise that a boxing promoter would combine two of the sport's hardest-hitting attractions; it's been done successfully time and again.Famed 1920s promoter Tex Rickard stacked cards with "The Wild Bull of the Pampas" Luis Firpo and "The Rochester Plasterer" Fred Fulton, and hewasn't averse to matching two exciting punchers against one another either.
In 1960s and '70s Los Angeles, the legendary George Parnassus brought boxing to the Forum in Inglewood with cards featuring Jose Napoles and Rodrigo Valdes, Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo. And more recently, Don King produced fight cards with Lennox Lewis and Gerald McClellan, and Julian Jackson, Azumah Nelson and Terry Norris.
There is no question that promoters will attempt to maximize a fighter's potential by featuring them alongside other attractions, but this is different. The Golovkin and Gonzalez pairing isdifferent in that it's more deliberate.
Speaking to BoxingScene earlier this year, Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler said, "It was our goal... to give the fans and viewers more value for the hard-earned money they spend to support our events."
That's the answer one would expect from nearly any promoter, but fan response has been very decisive. Golovkin and Gonzalez have averaged 15,000 tickets sold on their shared fight cards, and with Manny Pacquiao phasing himself out of the sport slowly, they are becoming flag bearers for the HBO Boxing brand.
At this stage, it's fair to note that Golovkin's popularity has gotten much closer to the U.S. mainstream than Gonzalez's and his success on HBO has given the Nicaraguan sensation's career a boost. But Gonzalez's multiple-division domination and all around class lends an air of legitimacy to Golovkin, who at 34 is still lacking an emphatic signature victory, and he couldn't play the co-star forever.
"I believe that both fighters, Golovkin and myself, are both main events," Gonzales told ESPN's Dan Rafael last April. "I hope that after [McWilliams Arroyo] they give me an opportunity to be my own main event."
While ticket sales for his showdown with WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras are considerably slower than cards headed by the Kazakh wrecking machine, Gonzalez's promoter Teiken Boxing would have had to find out exactly what kind of progress their charge had made in the U.S. market sooner or later anyway. Besides, this is the opportunity "Chocolatito" wanted and Cuadras' appeal in Mexico should wind up a boon to the promotion.
A victory over Cuadras, which isn't a given, would net Gonzalez a title belt in his fourth weight class and cement his pound-for-pound status. It would also move Gonzalez a division away from the lowest few weight classes -- divisions which historically have failed to draw money and acknowledgement in the U.S. That may be the only way for the diminutive battler's paydays match his plaudits.
On the other hand Golovkin's tussle with welterweight titlist Kell Brook sold out London's O2 Arena in only a few minutes. The meeting is widely considered hopeless for Brook, who is physically gifted and reasonably skilled, but should lack the physicality necessary to fend off the larger knockout artist. Yet a combination of blind hope for Brook and interest in Golovkin's ruinous style is filling the coffers just swell.
Whether Golovkin stays at middleweight for an encounter with Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez or moves to a different weight class, he appears poised for even greater career growth and an even wider audience if he wins this weekend. But in Alvarez, Golovkin has a potential foe that could launch him toward mainstream recognition that Gonzalez would likely never achieve.
Nonetheless, if all goes according to plan, Golovkin and Gonzalez will outgrow one another and both will have their own success. They are both wildly popular in their respective home countries, but both also understand and embrace their roles as humble foreign destruction artists here in the U.S.
If nothing else, this split-site fight card featuring four unbeaten world champions should serve to further establish both men as independent box office draws, even if to varying degrees. But as mainstream success remains evasive, boxing may be forced to rely on fighters' desire to join forces and maximize exposure.