By Ian S Palmer
As all boxing fans know by now, the much anticipated rematch between undefeated Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan and Mexican star Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has been called off for the time being either because of tainted meat or intentional use of a banned substance. That’s up to you to decide. Either way, Triple G is getting back in the ring on May 5th when he defends his IBO, WBC and WBA Super World Middleweight Titles against Vanes Martirosyan of Armenia at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Of course, Golovkin’s last bout was against Canelo in September, but Martirosyan hasn’t fought in two years since dropping a 12-round unanimous decision to Erislandy Lara in May of 2016. Fans in North America can see the bout on HBO.
The 36-year-old Golovkin enters the ring with a near perfect record of 37-0-1 along with 33Kos, up until meeting Daniel Jacobs in March of 2017 he had 23 stoppages in a row and went past 10 rounds just twice during his streak. He stands just over 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 70-inch reach and turned pro back in 2006 after a fine amateur career. Golovkin’s fought 184 rounds since then. His stiffest competition has been Alvarez, Jacobs, Kell Brook, David Lemieux, Willie Monroe Jr., Marco Antonio Rubio, Martin Murray, Daniel Geale, Curtis Stevens, Matthew Macklin and Gabriel Rosado.
This will be Golovkin’s 20th title defence and he’ll tie the middleweight record for defences set by Bernard Hopkins if he’s successful against Martirosyan. Golovkin simply does his job no matter who he faces though and things should be no different on Saturday night even though he’s obviously disappointed not to be facing Alvarez. Triple G, of course, is well known for his knockout power and has stopped 87 per cent of his opponents up to now. In addition, he’s also shown he has a granite chin to go along with his power and fine boxing skills.
Golovkin isn’t afraid of getting hit while he unleashes fierce body and head shots, but can also be patient while stalking his prey. Golovkin isn’t getting any younger though and he needs to be on the top of his game to stay undefeated. He might need to use some of those boxing skills against Martirosyan since his opponent also has a solid chin, has never been stopped and may be a hard to to put away. Golovkin doesn’t usually get into slugfests right from the get-go as he often gets into a rhythm and racks up a few rounds on the scorecards before opening things up.
As for Martirosyan, the Armenian-born boxer who now fights out of Glendale, California will turn 32 years old four days before the fight. He’s basically fought his whole career as a junior middleweight and the most he’s weighed in for a fight in the past was 158.5 lbs against Richard Gutierrez and Bladimir Hernandez Cazares back in 2011. Martirosyan was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 2004 and went 1-1 at the Games. He then turned pro a year later and has racked up a record of 36-3-1 with 21 Kos while boxing a total of 224 rounds.
Martirosyan stands just over 5-feet-11-inches tall with 70-inch reach, so he’s an inch taller than Golovkin with the same wingspan. He’s not known as a power puncher and carries around a 53 per cent knockout ratio. Martirosyan’s losses have all been to current or former world champions as he dropped unanimous decisions to Lara and Jermell Charlo and a split decision to Demetrius Andrade with the Lara and Andrade fights being title shots. Martirosyan has managed to win the WBO Inter-Continental, WBC Silver, WBA International, NABF, and WBO NABO Light Middleweight Titles in the past.
There’s no doubt Martirosyan has an awkward style and is the owner of a solid chin. His lone draw came against Lara back in a 2012 title fight as it was stopped in the ninth round due to a cut over Martirosyan’s eye which was caused by a headbutt. He was up 86-85 on one judge’s card at the time while another had it 86-86 and the third judge had Lara ahead 87-84. Still, Martirosyan’s managed to beat some solid pros in his career such as Ishe Smith, Willie Nelson, Saul roman, Kassim Ouma, Andrey Tsurkan, Billy Lyell, Angel Hernandez, Saul Roman and Troy Lowry.
Prediction…
The advantages go to Golovkin here since he’s a natural middleweight and doesn’t have two years of ring rust to shake off. He’s obviously the harder hitter too, but Martirosyan’s awkward style may give him some problems. Golovkin should prevail in the long run, but the question is will he be able to stop Martirosyan?
