The talk heading into his first PPV main event was whether Gennady Golovkin would bring "The Big Drama Show" against David Lemieux. He delivered and then some, beating Lemieux by eighth round TKO to become the unified middleweight champion in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,548 at Madison Square Garden.
"I give my friends, my fans, big show," Golovkin told Max Kellerman. "Thank you my fans! Thank you my people!
MORE: SN special: 30 days of Ronda Rousey | Top 13 'dream fights' for Ronda RouseyThe talk heading into his first PPV main event was whether Gennady Golovkin would bring "The Big Drama Show" against David Lemieux. He delivered and then some, beating Lemieux by eighth round TKO to become the unified middleweight champion in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,548 at Madison Square Garden.
"I give my friends, my fans, big show," Golovkin told Max Kellerman. "Thank you my fans! Thank you my people!
MORE: SN special: 30 days of Ronda Rousey | Top 13 'dream fights' for Ronda RouseyGolovkin opened the fight with a stinging left jab, which set the tone for the rest of the fight. In the opening round, Golovkin landed 26 jabs. The theme of the fight was Golovkin using the jab to set up his power punches.
Lemieux tried to force the issue in the third round and landed a couple of combinations, but they didn't seem to faze "GGG".
It seemed like the fight was going to end in the fifth as Golovkin landed a hard body shot to the liver that dropped Lemieux. To the Canadian's credit, he was able to make it through the round.
With nothing to lose going into the sixth, Lemieux came out throwing caution to the wind and landed multiple combinations. All that seemed to do was wake up Golovkin, who landed a vicious right uppercut to end the round.
In the final round of the fight, Golovkin had enough and closed the show. He backed Lemieux against the ropes with a jab, an overhand right and then another body shot to the liver that made referee Steve Willis decideNow that he is the unified champion, Golovkin wants the winner of the Nov. 21 WBC title fight between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez.
"I'm boxer," Golovkin told Kellerman. "I'm not businessman. I want all the belts. Look, I have four belts!"
Golovkin runs his record to 34-0, 31 by knockout. Saturday was his 21st consecutive KO.
Gonzalez shines to remain undefeated
Roman Gonzalez continued to show why he is pound-for-pound the best boxer in the world Saturday as he dominated Brian Viloria to win by ninth round TKO and retain the WBC flyweight title. Gonzalez remains undefeated in 44 fights with 38 of those wins coming by knockout.
Gonzalez got off to a shaky start. Viloria won opening round by being more active and going to the body. The rest of the fight, though, belonged to Gonzalez.
In the third round, Gonzalez hit Viloria with a short right hook to send him to the mat for the first time in his career. Gonzalez had the fight wherever he wanted to put it. He controlled the speed of his punches and on numerous occasions threw multiple eight- to 10-punch combinations.
The final round, Viloria stunned Gonzalez with a body shot. For a few moments, Gonzalez didn't even throw a punch. Gonzalez closed the show by landing a vicious combination that sent Viloria running to the other side of the ring. Gonzalez stalked Viloria, landed another combination and the fight was stopped.
Ortiz faceplants Vidondo in third round
Luis Ortiz continued his way to a shot at the heavyweight championship, overmatching Matias Vidondo by knockout 17 seconds into the third round.
The first round had Ortiz feeling out Vidondo and connecting anytime he wanted with his jab. Ortiz warmed up in the second and started to connect on more combinations, and Vidondo had no answer. Near the end of the round, Ortiz landed a hard left hook that bounced Vidondo against the ropes, and Ortiz landed a flush left hook to drop Vidondo, who survived the round.
Sensing the fight was his to take to begin the third, Ortiz landed a beautiful straight left hand that faceplanted Vidondo and the fight was halted. he had seen enough.
Johnson uses O'Kane for target practice to win decision
Tureano Johnson moved one step closer to becoming a world champion, beating up Eamonn O'Kane to win by unanimous decision (119-107, 118-108, 117-109) in a middleweight title eliminator. The win earned Johnson a shot at the winner of the main event. Johnson set a new record for middleweights, connecting on 396 power punches and breaking Bernard Hopkins' record of 375 against William Joppy.
Johnson came out aggressively in the opening round. He stunned O'Kane with two rlght hooks to the head. Johnson, realizing he had O'Kane wobbly, blistered O'Kane with a right hook to drop him. O'Kane got up at eight but still was on dream street. Johnson sensed the same thing and connected on another right hook to send O'Kane to the mat.
O'Kane shook off the cobwebs in the second and was able to control the round on the inside with consistent shots to the body. After the second, the fight was consistently fought on the inside with O'Kane ripping the body and Johnson landing right hooks and uppercuts to the head. Those shots caused a greater amount of damage, as Johnson was more active throughout the fight.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, The Fight Game Podcast, and subscribe on iTunes,Soundcloud and Stitcher. You can email him at stevemuehlhausen@yahoo.com and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.