Gennady Golovkin

Gennady Golovkin GGG (Triple G) is an outstanding Kazakhstani boxer, winner of many champion titles and awards, fought about 40 fights, losing only once.

Gennady was born in Kazakhstan, in Karaganda, on April 8, 1982. According to the sign of the zodiac, Gennady is Aries. The boy's mother is Korean by nationality, his father is Russian, but Gennady himself considers himself a Kazakh. Golovkin Sr. worked in a mine, his mother worked as an assistant in a chemical laboratory. The family, which brought up four children, lived in Maikuduk. At that time, the area was considered the most criminal region of Karaganda.

The best boxer regardless of the weight category according to The Ring magazine (September 27, 2017 - September 15, 2018.). The best boxer of 2017 according to the WBA, WBC and the popular publication Boxingnews24.com. He is ranked 60th in the ranking of the best boxers of all time, regardless of weight category, as well as the second place in the ranking of the best Asian boxers in the history of sports according to BoxRec.

Honored Master of Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Winner of many international tournaments: 7-time champion of Kazakhstan, world champion among youth in 2000, winner of the first Spartakiad of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2001, winner of the World Cup among oil countries in 2001, champion of the III East Asian Games (2001).

At the 2004 Olympics, he took second place in the weight category up to 75 kg. Artaev, whom Golovkin defeated in the qualifying fight, won gold in the weight category up to 69 kg.

Golovkin is known as a powerful and technical puncher and knockout who won most of his fights ahead of schedule. He scored 23 knockout victories in a row for 9 years from November 22, 2008 to March 18, 2017. Included in the Guinness Book of Records for the highest percentage of knockouts in the history of middleweight. Broke Bernard Hopkins' record for the most successful middleweight title defenses, defending it 21 times as of 2020. Some sources, however, question this achievement, pointing to the fact that the WBA Regular title, which Golovkin held prior to promotion to "superchampion" status in 2014, is considered a minor title and does not apply to the main championship titles.

Family

Golovkin's father (Russian) is a miner by profession, his mother (Korean) worked as an assistant in a chemical laboratory. Two of the three Golovkin brothers served in the army and died under unclear circumstances (Vadim in 1990, Sergei in 1994) when the future world champion was still a teenager. Gennady Golovkin started boxing precisely at the insistence of his older brothers, who gave him a choice: either boxing or some other sport. The third brother, Maxim, who was born only 15 minutes later than Gennady, also went in for boxing, and is currently an honored boxing coach of Kazakhstan. The brothers competed in the same weight class but never fought each other. If they had to fight, one was always withdrawn from the competition. So Maxim left the sport in favor of his brother before the selection for the 2004 Olympics. Now Maxim works in Gennady's team and helps the champion in preparation for fights.

Amateur career

Golovkin's amateur career has been long and eventful. Gennady had his first official fight at the age of 11 at a regional tournament. As a result, he became the winner of those competitions.

In 2000, Gennady won the World Junior Championship in Budapest, in the welterweight division.

In 2001, he won the East Asian Games by defeating Daniel Gil (15-3) in the final.

In 2002, at the World Team Cup held in Astana, he won a silver medal as part of the Kazakhstan national team. Golovkin won all four of his fights in the tournament. At the group stage in the match Kazakhstan - Azerbaijan defeated Javid Tagiev (19-8), and in the match Kazakhstan - Cameroon won an early victory over Foster Nkodo (RSCO 3). As part of the semifinal match, Kazakhstan - Russia defeated Andrey Balanov (10-7). And in the final match Kazakhstan - Cuba, from which the Cubans came out victorious with a total score of 7-5, defeated Damian Austin (6-4).

In 2002, at the Asian Games in Busan (South Korea), he won a gold medal. Defeated Phlenchit Suriya by knockout in the final.

In 2003, at the World Championships in Bangkok, he won a gold medal, where he first defeated the Russian Matvey Korobov, then defeated the future world champion, the famous Irishman Andy Lee, with a devastating score, and then knocked out another future world champion, Romanian Lucian Bute. In 1/2 he defeated Jordanis Despanier from Cuba, and in the final he knocked out a boxer from Ukraine, Alexei Mashkin.

In 2004, at the Asian Championships in Puerto Princesa (Philippines), he won a gold medal. In the 1/4 finals he defeated the South Korean Duk-Jin Cho, in the semifinals he defeated the Kyrgyz Kymbatbek Ryskulov, and in the final he stopped the local boxer Christopher Kamat in the 2nd round.

Olympic Games

At the 2004 Olympics, he took second place in the weight category up to 75 kg. Artaev, whom Golovkin defeated in the qualifying fight, won gold in the weight category up to 69 kg.

1/16 finals - passed automatically

1/8 final - defeated Ahmed Ali Khan (Pakistan) (31:10)

1/4 finals - defeated Ramadan Yassir (Egypt) (31:20)

1/2 final - defeated Andre Dirrell (USA) (23:18)

final - lost to Gaidarbek Gaidarbekov (Russia) (18:28)

Professional career

Postal block of Kazakhstan dedicated to Gennady Golovkin

Golovkin made his debut in 2006 in the professional ring in the middle weight category (up to 72 kg). The first 8 fights won ahead of schedule.

In September 2007, he met with the Frenchman Mehdi Buadla (11-1), whom he defeated on points in an 8-round fight. In April 2008, he defeated Ian Gardner on points (20-3). In November 2008, he won by refusal to continue the fight in the 2nd round of the Belarusian Malik Diarra (29-3).

On July 11, 2009, he entered the first 12-round fight, in the fight for the title of WBO intercontinental champion, knocked out Brazilian John Anderson Carvalho in the second round. Then he knocked out the undefeated Mikhail Makarov (10-0).

In 2010, Golovkin signed a contract with the Klitschko brothers' promotion company K2 Promotions.

In August 2010, he met Colombian Milton Nunez (21-1-1) in a fight for the title of interim WBA world champion (in the 72 kg weight category). Golovkin knocked out his opponent in the first round.

Championship fight with Nilson Julio Tapia

Golovkin fought his next fight in December 2010 with Panamanian Nilson Julio Tapia for the title of regular WBA world champion and won it by knockout in the third round.

In 2011, Golovkin defended his title twice, knocking out Kassim Oum and Lajuan Simon. In a fight with Simon Golovkin also won the vacant IBO world title.

In 2012, in his third title defense, Golovkin knocked out Japanese Makotto Fuchigami in the third round.

Failed fight with Dmitry Pirog

Then negotiations were held with the WBO champion, Russian Dmitry Pirog. The fight was not sanctioned as a unification fight, but the opportunity to fight shown on HBO was a priority for Pie over the WBO title. But in early July, Dmitry received a back injury, and the fight had to be canceled [17]. In 2012, Dmitry Pirog ended his career, and the fight was never held.

On the same date, another worthy opponent was found, it was the Pole Grzegorz Proksa, who had only one controversial defeat on points (which he closed in a rematch) and 28 wins, 21 of which by knockout.

Debut on HBO and rising popularity in the USA

On September 1, 2012, Gennady made his debut on the American channel HBO.

Fight with Grzegorz Proksa

Golovkin entered the ring with one of the most dangerous opponents of his career, the young Pole Grzegorz Proksa. Still, Golovkin was the favorite. The coefficient for his victory was 1.33, for the victory of Proksa 3.5. Golovkin acted very aggressively and actively. Already in the first round, he sent the Pole to the floor of the ring. In the fourth round, Gennady again sent Grzegorz to the canvas. At the beginning of the fifth round, Golovkin again knocked Prox down, and the referee stopped the fight. Golovkin defended the title by knocking out Proxa in the 5th round. The fight with Proksa took Golovkin to a higher level. This was his first fight in the United States, and was broadcast by the well-known HBO channel.

At the end of November 2012, WBA super champion Daniel Gil was stripped of his title for refusing to meet with Gennady Golovkin, and Gennady became the unified WBA champion.

Fight with Gabriel Rosado

On January 19, 2013, at Madison Square Garden, Golovkin made a voluntary title defense with Puerto Rican-American Gabriel Rosado. This was Golovkin's second fight to be broadcast on HBO. From the very first minutes of the fight, Rosado denied the opinions of many that he was a “whipping boy”. Rosado often tried to counterattack, landed a lot of accurate shots, but they could not be compared with the blows inflicted by Golovkin. In the seventh round, after a strong one-sided beating, Rosado's seconds threw in the towel. Gennady confidently won by technical knockout, but the fight came out without knockdowns, and was quite spectacular and competitive. Although Rosado lost, he had a worthy fight.

In March 2013, Golovkin was included in the so-called "Gatti List" from the HBO channel, which presents a list of the most spectacular boxers.

Fight with Nobuhiro Ishida

After ranking fights in the US on HBO, Golovkin decided to make his next defense in Europe. Gennady set a goal of five fights in 2013 and decided not to delay. I had to look for an opponent in a short time, but many top boxers avoided Gennady. The way out was found in the person of the famous Japanese boxer Nobuhiro Ishida. March 30, 2013, in Monaco, Gennady Golovkin met with a brave Japanese boxer. From the first seconds of the round, the Kazakhstani rushed forward, the Japanese accepted the fight and did not leave the attacks. The first two rounds were very spectacular with a big advantage for the champion. Nobuhiro missed a lot, but, as always, he held the shot well. At the end of the third round, with a combination consisting of a left uppercut and a right hook, he hit his opponent in the jaw, Golovkin sent Ishida into a deep knockout, thereby defending his championship titles, and inflicted the only early defeat in his career on the Japanese.

Fight with Matthew McClean

On June 29, 2013, in the USA, Gennady Golovkin entered the ring with the famous British boxer, Matthew McClean. The duel started almost without reconnaissance. In the last third of the first round, Golovkin hit for the first time with an accented straight, and some time later he added a right hook. But in the closing seconds, a left hook from the champion rocked McLean, who was only able to stay on his feet thanks to the ropes. The second round turned out to be not so devastating for the Briton, but he still didn’t have any special chances. The third and concurrently the last round started well for Matt, who managed to knock down the opponent's attacking impulse with a biting side kick. However, very soon Gennady pressed him to the ropes and carried out a series of blows with a final hook to the liver area. McLean immediately fell as if knocked down, and Gennady threw up his hands in victory, as he understood that this was the end.

Fight with Curtis Stevens

On November 2, 2013, Gennady defeated a local boxer, Curtis Stevens, in a tough fight in the USA. In the 8th round, Curtis held out to the gong after a protracted attack from Golovkin, but his coach did not allow him to reach the 9th round (corner failure).

At the end of 2013, Golovkin was recognized as the best boxer of the year, regardless of the weight category.

Fight with Osumu Adama

On February 1, 2014, Golovkin met with the Ghanaian Osumanu Adama in Monte Carlo. 31-year-old Golovkin sent his 33-year-old opponent to the floor of the ring three times - in the first, sixth and seventh rounds. In the latter, the referee decided to stop the fight. Golovkin once again defended his world title and inflicted the first early defeat of Adama in his career.

In March 2014, Golovkin was scheduled to fight the Irishman Andy Lee, but due to the death of his father, Golovkin canceled the fight.