Matchroom Boxing‘s Friday night main event on DAZN featured longtime and current IBF and IBO Middleweight world champion, Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) attempting at a record 21st title defense against relatively unheralded but (now formerly) undefeated IBF mandatory, Kamil Szeremeta (21-1, 5 KOs).
Both Golovkin and Szeremeta last fought on the same card at Madison Square Garden in October of last year. The event, headlined by Golovkin, featured Szeremeta on the undercard, blowing through an outmatched opponent.
On the other hand, Golovkin had his work cut out for him that night, being taken to the limit against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a bout that many believed GGG lost.
Headed into this fight, many questions endured regarding what exactly the great Kazakh Middleweight had left in the tank. And while he looked fantastic at weigh-ins, it was yet to be seen what he had left in the ring.
Early in the bout Golovkin reminded us who he is in the ring. He looked sharp on offense and defense, effectively mixing his patented power jab along with power shots, dropping Szeremeta at the end of the first round with a left hook and again towards the end of the second with a right hand.
Surprisingly, Szeremeta was able to survive the third round, especially considering the way it looked at the end of the second and the shots that he absorbed in the third as well.
Many wondered what exactly Szeremeta had done to earn himself a shot at the IBF title, and the lack of competition displayed will certainly only add to those questions and reinforcing the old boxing adage of “levels.”
To his credit, Szeremeta was able to return from the canvas on multiple occasions, but was clearly outmatched by the brilliance of GGG.
Again, to his credit, Szeremeta got up from the canvas each of the four times he was sent down. Ultimately, the referee determined that he had seen enough going into the eighth round, waiving it off while both fighters were on their stools.
Regardless of the opponent, Golovkin looked sharp, strong, and fast. It was a true throwback performance for “GGG” in an impressive showing of technical boxing and devastating power punching.
In what was his record 21st Middleweight title defense, many members of the boxing community wonder what is next for Gennadiy Golovkin, perhaps finally, the public will be treated to the coveted trilogy bout with Mexican superstar, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has a world title fight of his own on the same network tomorrow night.
