Gennady Golovkin is a fighter who has proven so dominant he has even taken to letting an opponent stick around for a few extra rounds before lowering the boom on him, and GGG has even dropped his hands and let a foe punch him in the face. So special a fighter Golovkin is, his admirers say, he has yet to get out of second gear in any pro fight. Winning with something to spare is what GGG has been doing, consistently, and his potential rivals (who are few and far between) have been impressed/intimidated enough to want to stay away from him.
But what if GGG does struggle, look bad or gest genuinely hurt in a fight? Would his cowering would-be rivals come out of hiding and agree to face the middleweight king if he looked less than formidable? GGG is so desperate to get the big, big fight with Saul Canelo Alvarez that he said to The Los Angles Times how he might intentionally look less than great against Kell Brook on Saturday, so as to lure Canelo into fighting him.
Golovkin, with a laugh and a smile, said “Maybe, some time, maybe. Why not? Good strategy [to get the Canelo fight],” when asked this question. It really has come to this – GGG is that good. The unbeaten, destructive puncher continued:
“If I look good, he’s not ready,” GGG said of Canelo. “If I look terrible, he’s ready. This is his strategy, Golden Boy strategy.”
But can Brook stick around long enough to make GGG look bad? Or maybe we are giving Brook a disservice and he will make GGG look bad without any help. Either way, if Triple-G does look human and somewhat vulnerable, will Canelo, and Golden Buy, take the bait and finally agree to give the boxing world the super-fight it wants?
Fighters of the past have scared potential opponents off with a great, great performance, and throughout history fighters have also suckered a previously less than enthusiastic challenger into wanting to face them with a deliberately poor showing. It may soon be Golovkin’s turn.