By Tom Donelson (BWAA)
Author, Member Boxing Writers Association of America
Contributor to dmboxing.com since 2008
“Triple GGG” Gennady Golovkin took on what may have been his toughest opponent, Daniel Jacobs but only for WBA and WBC but not IBF as Jacobs refused to do his morning weight in. (IBF rules stated that the fighter can only gain up to ten pounds following the official weight in.) By refusing the IBF, Jacobs could rehydrate to higher weight for an extra advantage over Golovkin.
Before these two fighters get it on, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez faced Thailand’s Srisaket Sor Rungvisai for Gonzalez, Super flyweight championship. Over the first two rounds Rungvisai dominated with his power and even sent Gonzalez down for eight count near the end of the first round.
An accidental head butt in the third round opened up a cut over Gonzalez eyes but Gonzalez started to unleash his own punches and started to get back into the fight over the third and fourth round.
During the fifth and sixth round, the fight went back and forth but Gonzalez looked like he gained the advantage in the sixth with accurate combinations but both fighters landed big punches. The seventh and eighth round were close.
For the rest of the fight, both men fight toe to toe and Rungvisai won a close majority decision with scores of 114-112, 114-112 and 113-113.
As for the main event, the first three rounds were slow as GGG wanted to feel Jacobs power but in the beginning of the fourth, a right hand nailed Jacobs, who got up quickly but Triple G’s tried to end it but Jacobs weathered the storm.
From the fourth round, Jacobs used his boxing skills to avoid Triple G’s and flurried enough to win rounds, making the fight close. Round seven and eight, his flurries were enough to win the rounds and you could make the case that he also won the ninth, tenth and eleventh round. While some had Jacobs winning the fight, I am not one of them but Jacobs did show that he belongs in the conversation of top Middleweights.
Golovkin was forced to go 12 rounds for the first time and now this could open the door to Golovkin-Alvarez later this year if Alvarez gets by Chavez. This fight will be a big PPV due to Alvarez’s popularity and mean big bucks for Golovkin. It won’t hurt that maybe if team Alvarez review this fight, they may view that their guy is ready and at 34, Golovkin is on the downside of his career.
As for Golovkin, the fight attracted less than 200,000 PPV and Alvarez own PPV’s have dropped from big numbers that often went north of million PPV’s to 300,000 for Liam Smith fight. His bout with Chavez should be close to million marks simply because it is a fight that many within the Hispanic community have an interest in this bout with two big Mexican fighters involved. If Alvarez and Chavez can’t hit close to million marks, maybe Alvarez isn’t the PPV star he once was.
This bout due to Golovkin’s performance opens the door to a big fight with Alvarez simply because team Alvarez are less likely to risk their fighter against Golovkin who is fighting like the destroyer he was before Jacobs. A victory over Chavez will add allure to the fight, especially if Alvarez dominates Chavez.
As for Jacobs, he enhance his own reputation by simply going the distance and being competitive with the fighter everyone says is the best Middleweight. Jacobs also has shown he can bring an audience to a New York fight so between the Garden and Barclay center, he has two of the better boxing venues.
The Middleweights has open up with some exciting bouts over the horizon.