Gennady Golovkin: Still Chasing
Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
The career of Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin has often been subject to many questions, whether it concerned the quality of his opponents, his legacy, or his fighting style. It seems to me that the answers brought to these questions were smeared.
Nobody changes their mind as quickly as a combat sports fan. We are all guilty of having short memories and we can’t help ourselves but put fighters in predefined boxes. Triple G, therefore, is recognized as a powerful and scary pressure boxer who spent a majority of his career destroying a flop of average boxers.
On the eve of his fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko at the Garden, I wanted to take this opportunity to give my genuine answer about Gennady’s fighting style. Starting by analyzing how he defeated his opponents, but also by showing you some boxing skills we rarely mention he possesses.
THE HUNT
It is not a secret that Triple G’s game plan is based on heavy pressure and constant volume. Golovkin wants to break his opponents and often it does feel that it’s only a matter of time before the Kazakh will put them down. The first things you ever heard about Gennady were his power in both hands and his jab.
So, let’s start with the jab. It does not mean much to say that a fighter has a good jab if you don’t explain what he does with it. GGG does not only use his powerful jab to stay on the outside and keep his opponent at distance. His jab is stiff and heavy like a piston. Almost every GGG fight opens with a series of jabs. Golovkin takes one or two rounds to feel his opponent and see the impact of his jab. Early in his career, most his prey backed up after a few of these.
Less than 30 seconds into the fight, the opponent is already close to the ropes and his head snaps back from the jab. Also note that Golovkin’s right hand is always ready to parry his opponent’s jab.
Most of Gennady’s early opponents started to panic as soon as their back touched the ropes, they threw something big, hoping to release a bit of pressure from Golovkin. But that’s exactly what he wants.
“It is only a matter of time”, Jim Lampley used to say when GGG would stop his opponents. However, the longer it takes the larger the arsenal of the Kazakh we can analyze. So, let’s see what Golovkin does when his opponent does not get rattled by a few jabs.
Golovkin’s offensive footwork is very good. He became a master at cutting the ring and making it incredibly small and uncomfortable for his opponents. That’s where GGG’s power in both hands plays so much in his favor, whether the opponents circles to the right or the left there is something big waiting to catch them.
The 3 clips all come from round #1 - which tells you a lot about how quickly the opponent has to fight on the backfoot and under pressure. As you can see, Golovkin leaves no escape for his opponent and he mixes which side he is cutting. In the first clip (against Murray) the Brit tried to circle on GGG’s left side first but Golovkin was there to block the way, then throw a jab just to back Murray a little bit more into the ropes. He let him circle to the right side, interrupting him with a right hook/left hook combo.
In the Macklin clip, we can see that a simple feint from a back hand provokes such a big reaction from the opponent. That simple feint convinced the Irishman to not only move on the other side but to move back a little more into the corner of the ring. Now that he is stuck in there, Golovkin lands a good 1-2, ducks under Macklin’s right hook and throws a left hook (that misses). But even though he missed and moved all the weight towards his right foot, Gennady manages to get back to his orthodox stance while Macklin is still covering up with his high guard.
Monroe Jr. in his southpaw stance tried to go left and right to make Gennady think, but in this position he still had too much ground to walk to escape this bad position. It only took Gennady one large side step to his left to block Willie in the corner and eventually catch him with the left hook.
Eventually the only solution the three men found to escape this situation was to hold Triple G to reset, but it’s only a matter of seconds here... before they're put back in the same spot.
What makes Gennady so good at pressuring his opponents all over the ring is the shifting.
Shifting consists of pivoting on your lead foot in order to end up in the opposite stance.
This technique really suits Golovkin’s skills perfectly, as the man has power in both hands and is able to fight from both stances, he can cover so much space while pressuring.
This technique is more than 100 years old, and isn’t used as much nowadays as it used to be. Against a good counter puncher it can be very dangerous. However, Gennady often uses his heavy jab as a distraction so that his opponent doesn’t realize he shifted already, as he was worried about the jab.
It’s not just about closing the distance. Notice how Golovkin takes the outside angle (his left foot) while throwing the jab. That’s what makes him very dangerous, because Proksa never saw it coming. At least he managed to avoid Gennady’s right hand, but he is now in a terrible position.
Now that we showed some of the techniques he uses to get his opponent in vulnerable positions over and over, let’s see how he closes the show.
After missing his left hook, he takes just a small side step then steps back to turn southpaw, throws a right hand then takes a wide step back, coming back by putting his right foot on the outside of Rolls’ left foot to land that devastating left hand that ends the night. Gennady’s balance is underrated. You won’t find many boxers that can throw the right hand, as he did after switching stance, as hard as he did without getting off balance.
The knockout of Vanes Martirosyan (36-4-1) is even more impressive, and somehow unfair. Impressive, because the last three power punches thrown by the Kazakh come from a very square stance. Yes, GGG did take a small side step just before the double jab and one big step after the double jab, but his feet really are very close to being on the same line at the end of the combination. So it is quite a bit unfair, that even in a square stance he manages to create that much power.
The Kazakh is very efficient with body punches, too, and he knows very well how to “hide” those body punches. They often comes as the last punch of his combinations. His prey are too worried about the punches to the head, they immediately use a high guard to avoid ending unconscious on the canvas. In the clip below, you can see that as he circles, Macklin bends his knees and gets very low with both hands glued to his face. Gennady then throws two uppercuts into the high guard of the Irishman and then delivers a bomb of a left hook to the body. Game over. Macklin falls to the ground as if he was struck by lightning. Gennady hides that side step to the left he took with the second uppercut and really throws that body punch with more conviction than the two uppercuts before.
In his amateur days, Golovkin was more a boxer-puncher and faced so many different match-ups. He used to slip opponents’ shots to create angles for his attack, and wasn’t as relentless as the Golovkin we’ve seen in the pros.
Later in his career he improved his footwork so much, the power was always there, the unbreakable mindset too. But what Abel Sanchez (we’ll come back to him real quick) and Gennady did very well was to hone the perfect fighting style for him to express all of his qualities. Everything Golovkin does is made to get you to back up, over and over. In his career he fought some boxers who were a bit bigger and more experienced, they made him work, but another quality and advantage that Gennady has on most people is his crazy engine. He just never stops, it’s a very simple way to put it but it is the truth. He outpaced some great athletes, too, and that’s obviously one of the advantages of training in Big Bear.
So yes, together they created the ultimate hunter. But what Abel Sanchez maybe never really saw, or was interested in, is that Triple G is capable of more than just hunting. The limit of Abel Sanchez’s vision was to never answer the questions like, “What happens if my opponent doesn’t break? What if he’s bigger? What if he’s sharper and counters Gennady? What if he moves forward?” It seems to me that Abel made it more about a question of will than a question of skill, and from what I see Gennady has shown the skills to box on the backfoot, and also to fight at range in the center of the ring, and that’s what I’ll try to show you below.
GENNADY GOLOVKIN 2.0
On March 18, 2017, Gennady Golovkin took on a much better opponent than his recent competition when he faced the Miracle Man, Daniel Jacobs. Coming into this bout with a twenty-three fight knockout streak, Golovkin was the favorite.
However, his last fight with Kell Brook made the boxing world wonder if Gennady had lost a step. Kell Brook was a much smaller opponent with faster hands than Golovkin, but as the Kazakh seemed not to feel the power of Brook, he decided to just pursue a brutal fight, leaving the defense aside a little and focusing on breaking Kell Brook.
It worked, but Golovkin took some good shots from the Brit (a few good uppercuts specifically, which has always been a punch that tends to land on Golovkin in his career) and lost a few rounds. In my opinion, it was just one of those fights where GGG saw a clear and quick path to victory by setting an up-tempo pace, relying on power and toughness, but for the boxing world it seemed more than that. At the end of the day, Golovkin won that fight by TKO in round 5. It was “only a matter of time” as Jim Lampley would again say. The truth was that it was only a matter of time and competition before Gennady faced someone who will not break. And we did not have to wait much longer to see it, as Daniel Jacobs will give a very close and competitive fight to the middleweight champion.
The Miracle Man,was on a 12-fight win streak since his KO loss to Dmitry Pirog (another boxer who shifts a lot). Coming into fight night, Daniel Jacobs was heavier than GGG by “at least 10 pounds”, so said the HBO Broadcast team. He also had a small reach advantage. As the fight started, Golovkin looked very nervous compared to the American, who took the first two rounds based on volume and precision. Gennady didn’t do much in those two rounds, he struggled to set up his jab and didn’t cut the ring as much as he used to. Golovkin woke up in round 3 after landing a few good shots, but Jacobs took it very well and even if he fought most of the round on the backfoot, he managed to limit Golovkin’s offense.
In the next round, Jacobs switched to southpaw, when his back was against the ropes, in order to escape them but Golovkin made the most of it and knocked down the American with a right hook (Jacobs lost his balance, but wasn’t rocked). This was a big confidence booster for the Kazakh, as he then started to loosen up and cut the ring and land some nice double jabs and uppercuts, going to the body when he saw the opening. But Jacobs never panicked, he stayed composed, and stayed focus on moving his feet correctly and throwing combos to back up GGG a little when it became necessary.
Golovkin then seemed to understand that this fight would not be a walk in the park. So he stayed behind his powerful jab and moved forward cautiously, picking his shots and pacing himself, too. He ended up landing 29 jabs in this round and outboxed Jacobs. In the American’s corner, Andre Rozier did a great job on telling his boxer to, “fight power with finesse”, telling him not to engage in a brawl with the champion. Rozier also asked Jacobs to go to the body more as, “he does not like it…at all”.
Round 5 was very competitive but GGG edged it, landing the bigger shots, but once again, Daniel did a great job at avoiding GGG’s pressure both on the inside where he was stronger than Triple G and on the outside where he seemed faster.
Those are the best punches Golovin landed in that fifth round, but once he came close to Jacobs he threw a left hook and Jacobs took the underhook to hold Golovkin and push him back to the center of the ring.
Golovkin fought round 6 as if it was round 1, he tried to set up his jab and cut the ring cautiously but didn’t mind being on the backfoot for a few sequences. To me, this was new, and it was reassuring. It wasn’t quite as reassuring for his coach, who asked him to put the pressure on again.
After that, GGG kept that cautious pressure and tried to land big when it was possible, but he focused more on feinting and letting Jacobs throw so he could counter. He did it well. The fight would go all 12 rounds, and all the later rounds would be extremely close, with both boxers showing great boxing IQ.
Golovkin presses forward step by step, no rush, keeping his hands high, he slips Jacobs’ jab and counters it with his own jab, followed by the right. Notice how Jacobs defends the right hand with his left hand glued to his face and the right forearm ready to push back Triple G. Then Jacobs throw a big left hook in order to back up GGG, but the Kazakh lands another quick left hand flush on Jacobs’ jaw while ducking under Jacobs’ left hook. Good stuff. Then, GGG tried to come back at him, but Jacobs’ flurry makes him back up. That’s how Jacobs escaped the ropes most of the fight.
Facing another great puncher, Golovkin was forced to be more defensively responsible than he had been for much of his professional career. He threw jabs and immediately ducked under Jacobs’ left hook, then pivoted on his left foot to get back in stance, threw another jab, took a side step while he slipped Jacobs’ counter and caught Jacobs with another short jab. Even after landing a big jab on Jacobs’ face he stayed cautious, making sure to land his right hand while staying balanced.
Golovkin’s chin is also unreal. Both men landed some big shots in that fight, but Jacobs had a lot of success on the inside, which is why Gennady often took a step back after colliding with him.
The boxing world spent a lot of time debating the scorecards but to me it was clear that Golovkin showed he could do more than crush people if it was necessary. He could press forward cautiously, setting traps and accepting to move back and start over without frustration. Gennady also shows in the Canelo Alvarez rematch that he is capable of boxing on the backfoot. I won’t spend too much time on the Canelo fights because they have been analyzed all over the place. There are just a few things that I’d like to highlights from both contests.
Canelo
In the first bout with Canelo, Golovkin used his jab very well. He landed 183 jabs on Canelo for 459 thrown. Canelo in this fight wasn’t so focused on countering Gennady’s jab, but rather on avoiding Golovkin’s right hand and countering it. Triple G started using that in round 4 where he would then feint the right hand to get a reaction from Canelo, punishing him with his lead hand.
Canelo’s deadly counterpunching skills convinced Gennady not to shift in that fight. That’s why Golovkin’s pressure was straight up coming from the jab, and most right hands missed because GGG struggled taking angles on the Mexican. But what Golovkin did do, once he backed up Canelo with those right hand feints and jabs, he stayed at range and picked his shots. He never pushed the knockout or the big punches. He was well aware of how dangerous off the ropes Saul can be.
Gennady approached that fight using a lot of crafty set ups. It was much easier for him to get Canelo on the ropes largely because the Mexican didn’t mind the position. In the rematch, Canelo decided to move forward and not spend as much time in the ropes, he also made a great adjustment, he decided to counter Golovkin’s jab instead of his right hand, and this made Gennady work hard to land his famous jab. As a result, Golovkin struggled to back Canelo up so he had to fight in the center of the ring or backing up, and he’s capable of it, but Abel Sanchez just didn’t want to hear about it.
The only way for Golovkin to back up Canelo then was to get into long exchanges, as soon as he avoided or blocked the first or second counter punch from Canelo, he was having success.
After a long series of exchanges in the center of the ring, Golovkin manages to get inside and push back Canelo, then throw a jab and take a little side step just enough so that he can land his uppercut before Canelo’s counter.
In the fifth round especially, Golovkin backed up and let work Canelo on the outside, using his jab and circling on his left side. He even made Canelo miss and countered him several times. Golovkin won rounds 4 and 5 like this, but here’s what Abel Sanchez told him, “you cannot stay outside like this, you’ve got to make it a fight. Let’s wear him down and let’s knock him out.” Golovkin obeyed and got back to the center of the ring, putting a great pace on Canelo, who then had tons of success countering the high volume of Golovkin.
It was a phenomenal fight, but I’m still frustrated with Abel Sanchez gameplan. I think it is more than fair that against the elite competition, it was Golovkin’s amateur career experience that helped him get through. End of the story, Gennady lost the rematch via majority decision.
I scored the fight 115-113 for Canelo, but like in the Jacobs fight or the first Canelo fight, I thought Golovkin showed us that he’s more than a one dimensional fighter and that’s what I hope Jonathan Banks (his new head coach) will try to do.
Of course at almost 38 years of age, I don’t expect to see Golovkin 3.0, but with a coach who wants “Gennady to win rounds, and not chase that knockout after losing 4 or 5 rounds in a row”, I’m hoping we get to see Gennady approach the last fights of his career using all his skills. Saturday night, against Derevyanchenko they will have an opportunity to show us the new Golovkin.
His opponent had a long amateur career, just like Triple G, he loves to move forward and he’s a good puncher. He just seems to have trouble pacing himself and gets very tired at times. I would not be surprised to see him having success early in the fight, but then I think Gennady will take over and triumph by wide UD or late TKO.