By Ian S. Palmer
It’s not too often that you get an all-European boxing match broadcast by HBO, especially between two Eastern European fighters, but that’s what fans will be looking forward to on Sat. Sept. 1. This is when WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be taking on Grzegorz Proksa at Verona, New York’s Turning Stone Casino.
Golovkin, who hails from Kazakhstan, is an unbeaten pro with a 23-0 record along with 20 KOs. It’s obvious that he carries some power in his fists and the 30-year-old is probably average in height for as middleweight or slightly below it at 5-feet-10. Proksa is originally from Poland and comes into the ring with a 28-1 record with 21 KOs. He’s also the current European middleweight champion and a southpaw.
Proksa caught a break here in getting a title shot since Golovkin was originally scheduled to take on undefeated Dmitry Pirog in a title unification bout with the WBO middleweight king. However, Pirog had to pull out of the fight due to a training injury. Golovkin said he’d happy to be fighting in the U.S. for the first time and feels Proksa’s a worthy opponent.
Grzegorz Proksa
The challenger said it’s going to be a really tough bout and he’s going to have to work as hard as he can if he hopes to lift the title from Golovkin. He added that he knows the champion well and respects him, but is confident in his own ability and believes he has a good chance of beating him. Abel Sanchez, who is the champion’s trainer, said Golovkin’s the best boxer he’s ever worked with. That’s not a bad compliment from somebody who’s trained the likes of Miguel Gonzalez, Paul Vaden, and Terry Norris.
Sanchez said Golovkin’s amateur experience of 350 bouts and all of the international tournaments he’s been in have made him into the fighter he is today. He added that the champion’s composed and has brutal power in both hands. The trainer said that since he has so much power, he doesn’t want Golovkin to sit back and counterpunch. He wants him to initiate the action instead and definitely be the aggressor right from the opening bell.
Golovkin said he understands what the American public wants from its boxers and is hoping that he can provide an exciting fight and accentuate it with a knockout. His last bout was in May when he knocked out Makoto Fuchigami in the third round. The 27-year-old Proksa has certainly been busy so far in 2012 as he’s fought three times already.
He lost the only fight of his pro career on St. Patrick’s Day when Kerry Hope beat him by a 12-round majority decision. He stopped Rudolf Varga in the third round two months later and then regained his European title by stopping Hope in a rematch in the eighth round of their rematch in July.
This should be a decent fight with the champion Golovkin retaining his title by a late stoppage or unanimous decision.
