The list of Gennady Golovkin victims keeps growing
On Friday afternoon, May 4, 2018, the headliners on Saturday evening’s HBO Championship Boxing Series show at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, Calif. met for their pre-fight weigh-ins.
On Saturday night, the 36-year-old Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1) scored his 38th victory and 34th by way of knockout over the 32-year-old Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21 KOs) of Glendale, Calif. by way of Abovyan, Armenia, at the 1:53 mark of round two to secure his historic 20th title defense which now ties him with the great Bernard Hopkins for the most by a middleweight.
The fight, taking place at the StubHub Center, was broadcast live on HBO. After Martirosyan held his own in the early exchanges of round one, Golovkin was all business in round two and ended up putting Martirosyan down for the count after he had him backing up and caught him first with a right uppercut, jab, overhand right, jab, jab, overhand right, left hook, right and left hook, in other words, Martirosyan was getting hit by a barrage of punches. Already on his way down, Martirosyan then got hit by what is known as a continuation punch. It was at that point that Martirosyan’s left knee made contact with the canvas. The exact time of this knockout was 1:53 of the second round.
Had that final punch came a second later, Golovkin could possibly have been cited for hitting Martirosyan while he was down. If we gauge their performance by the power punches thrown, then in round one, it was pretty much even. But in round two, Golovkin landed 11 of 15 power punches, while Martirosyan only landed 4.
In the post-fight interviews, the always gracious GGG said he is willing to fight anyone, any division and that he simply wants to remain active. Of course, a great many fans are looking forward to seeing that return match against Canelo Alvarez in September on Mexico’s Independence Day.
On the undercard, in the co-feature, fans saw female World Champion 36-year-old Cecilia Braekhus from Bergen, Norway (32-0, 9 KOs) defend all five of her welterweight world title belts by winning a 1o-round unanimous decision over the tough 31-year-old Kali Reis (13-6-1, 4 KOs) from Providence, Rhode Island. In this, the first, ever, female bout to be televised on HBO Championship Boxing, Braekhus was actually a knockdown victim for the first time ever in round number seven.
Another notable bout involved super lightweight 25-year-old Ruslan Madiev of Big Bear, Calif. by way of Karaganda, Kazakhstan (now 12-0) winning a unanimous decision over Jesus Perez of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico (now 21-1, 16 KOs). Over a career spanning three years and 21 bouts, Mr. Perez had just two victories over a boxer with a winning record.
Also, 25-year-old welterweight Ryan Martin (now 22-0), from Cleveland, Ohio defeated the 35-year-old veteran Breidis Prescott from Miami, Florida by way of Barranquilla, Columbia, by a unanimous decision. Prescott now drops to (31-13, with 22 KOs).
With an announced attendance of 7,837, it was reported that Golovkin had earned $1 million dollars for the fight and Martirosyan earned $225,000.
