By Ian S Palmer
The WBA ‘super’ and IBO middleweight titles will be on the line on Saturday February 1 when undefeated champion Gennady Golovkin takes on challenger Osumanu Adama of Ghana over at the Salles des Etoiles in Monte Carlo. This will be Golovkin’s 10th WBA title defense since he won it back in 2010 with a third-round Ko over Nilson Tapia.
The 31-year-old champion, who hails from Kazakhstan will be entering the ring with a perfect record of 28-0 along with 25 Kos. As you can see by his record, Golovkin has been a knockout machine so far in his pro career, which he kicked off in May of 2006. He’s won 15 bouts in a row by stoppage and has the highest knockout percentage of all the active world titleholders. In fact, he also holds the best percentage for Kos in the history of the middleweight division at 89.29.
The last time he fought in Monte Carlo he went earned a third-round Ko over Nobuhiro Ishida. This time he’ll be facing the 33-year-old Adama who will be climbing through the ring ropes with his record of 22-3 with 16 Kos to his name. This is Adama’s second shot at a world title as he took on former IBF boss Daniel Geale of Australia back in March of 2012 and lost by a unanimous decision.
Golovkin is generally recognized as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world right now, but he’ll be facing an opponent who also has pretty good power. Golovkin has speed, aggression and power, and is also quite accurate with his punches. He just keeps on moving forward once the opening bell rings and effectively attacks the body and the head.
Adama possesses some fine boxing skills and also has good speed. He has a good jab and keeps himself busy every round. His best bet will be to utilize his mobility and try to avoid getting dragged into a firefight. If he can do this and take the bout into the later rounds then anything’s possible. Of course, his ability to take a punch is going to be a key component to this contest. Adama turned pro back in 2001 and has faced the likes of Roman Karmazin, Grady Brewer, Don George, angel Hernandez. His losses were all by unanimous decisions to George, Geale, and Dyah Davis.
Golovkin certainly doesn’t look like he’s the most powerful guy in the world, but boxers such as Curtis Stevens painfully found out that looks can be deceiving inside the boxing ring. Golovkin stopped Stevens by a stoppage back in November during an exciting fight in which Stevens tried to slug it out with the champion.
Prediction
Adama has some decent skills in the ring, but he’s going to need exceptional skills to take the title from Golovkin. But who knows, he could box the fight of his life and walk away with the belt. It’s doubtful though. Adama would do well to go the distance against Golovkin here and he could very well achieve that, but there’s the same likelihood that he’s stopped in the second half of the fight too.
