By: Hans Themistode
Gennadiy Golovkin used to storm the middleweight category with ease. For most of his 20s, he wasted no time trying to get his opponents out of their misery. Once Golovkin reached his prime, after each of his fights, his gloves, boxing pants and even his ring would be soaked with his opponent’s blood.
Known for the brutality of his beatings, Golovkin has slowed down since. With two struggling games against Canelo Alvarez in 2017 and 2018, the latter of which resulted in a controversial majority decision defeat, Golovkin spent more and more time watching the action from the sidelines.
Having played only three times since 2019, dust has piled up considerably on the 40-year-old’s birth certificate. But, regardless of his age, Golovkin continued.
Exactly one week from now, Golovkin will attempt to unify the title with WBA champion Ryota Murata. With Golovkin turning 40 the day before their April 9 match, Derrick James sees no sense for Golovkin to continue fighting at his age. While the world famous coach pointed the finger of blame at many for pushing the old man in the ring, he believes that if something unfortunate happens to the Hall of Famer in the future, he should shoulder the burden. much of that responsibility.
“He’s 40, is he still fighting? Why? Why is the manager still negotiating a fight if he’s already 40 unless he really needs something. This is the thing about these 40-year-old men,” James explained in an interview with Fight Hub TV. “If you get into the ring, anything happens to you. Be angry at the promoter, angry at his management, angry at his wife or family because he made it to the ring, it’s on him. ”
Despite James’ affection, Golovkin seems to have no end. In addition to the upcoming game against Murata, he has been scheduled to return to the ring in September against Alvarez. Provided, of course, that he would take care of the business against Murata and Alvarez succeeded in a lightweight showdown with Dmitry Bivol on May 7.
Since he had no choice but to devour the decisive split draw and decisive majority defeat to Alvarez in their forgettable contests, Golovkin insisted that he was beaten by a stick short.
If everything goes well in the previous matches, Golovkin will be allowed to face Alvarez again. However, as their third collision seemed inevitable, Alvarez became the subject of unwanted backlash. With the Mexican star slamming into each other in the midst of his prime and Golovkin’s late career, many see their possible clash as a one-way mismatch. in favor of Alvarez.
But, despite that opinion, James believes that vitriol should absolutely not be aimed at Alvarez’s direction.
“You can’t be mad at Canelo for caring about what he needs to do.”
