By Michele Emrick
After dispatching of the talented Matthew Macklin in just three rounds Saturday night, Gennady Golovkin is considering moving up in weight to take on Carl Froch later in the year, or early next year, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Golovkin stopped Macklin with a vicious body blow in the third, allowing him to retain his WBA 160 lb. crown. It was his seventh successful defense, all of which have come by knockout.
For Matthew Macklin, it was his third unsuccessful attempt to capture a world title. Previously he came up short against both Sergio Martinez and Felix Sturm.
Against Gennady Golovkin, the Birmingham fighter was simply outclassed by his heavy-handed foe. In the third, Golovkin walked down Macklin, delivering a brutal left hook to the liver, giving him his 24th knockout in just 27 fights.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, he’s definitely the best kid I’ve ever fought,” said Macklin, who lost for the fifth time in 34 outings.
“I had a plan to exploit his weakness which was his lack of experience – he’s only been 10 rounds once – but credit to him, he didn’t even let me get into any kind of rhythm at all.
“He was patient, he was hard to hit clean, kept the pressure on, picked his punches well and that body shot took it out of me.”
The win sets up Golovkin for an opportunity with the WBC champion Sergio Martinez. However, he has also been linked to a possible fight with the aforementioned super middleweight champion Carl Froch.
“According to HBO, he’d be willing to step up to super middleweight and a fight with Carl Froch would just be epic,” said Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn. “Froch, granite chin [against] Golovkin, one of the biggest pound-for-pound punchers in the world.
“Carl Froch will fight any man. Whilst Golovkin is largely avoided, Froch will quite willingly step up and ideally that is a fight that could happen in the middle of 2014.”
As is always the case when it comes to boxing, talk is easy when negotiations have yet to start. The real trick will be to see if all sides think the fight can be made after the details of such a fight begin.
It would definitely be a fight that would capture the imagination of the fans, however. Golovkin is one of, if not, the fastest rising star in boxing. Whoever he faces next, you can be sure that they will have their hands full.
