By David Martinez / dmboxing.comĀ
Gennady Golvokin (36-0 / 33 by KO) successfully defended his WBC and IBF middleweight title belts (WBA belt was not at stake) with a fifth round stoppage over IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1 / 25 by KO) on Saturday night in front of over 19,000 fans at the 02 Arena in London, England.
In round one Golvokin staggered Brook with a perfect left hook to the liver, but Brook held on with outstanding movement and quickness to end the round.
In round two Brook was brilliant with counter punches and effective jabs. But in the next rounds, three and four, Golovkin was simply the aggressor and landed the heavier punches and the beginning of the end was inevitable.
In round five Golovkin opened up a furious attack and Brook’s corner threw in the towel forcing the referee to stop the onslaught. It was Golovkin’s 23rd consecutive knockout.
It was confirmed after the bout that Brook suffered a broken eye socket and was taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention.
In the post fight interview Golovkin stated that he wants to unify all the middleweight title belts by fighting unbeaten southpaw IBF champion Billy Joe Sanders (23-0 / 12 by KO) in his next fight.
At the Forum in Inglewood, California fight fans were treated to a great action bout as WBC flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (46-0 / 38 by KO) moved up in weight and defeated previously unbeaten WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (35-1 / 27 by KO) by a twelve round unanimous decision.
Gonzalez was the aggressor throughout the entire bout, but the taller Cuadras kept paced with excellent movement and did his best scoring when standing close trading punches.
Gonzalez won the fight by simply out working Cuadras, I didn’t have the fight as close as others – giving Gonzalez eight of the twelve rounds 116-112.
The official scorecards were: 117-111, 116-112, 115-113, all for the winner Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.
In the post fight interview, Gonzalez was humble with the win, his fourth title in four different weight classes, and he acknowledged that his mentor Alexis Arguello is the greatest fighter ever to come out of Nicaragua – I concur!