Photo edit by John Garita/RBRBoxing
On Saturday, October 18, 2014, feared Middleweight heavy hitter, Gennady Golovkin, takes on the durable Mexican veteran, Marco Antonio Rubio.
The fight–which takes placed at the famed StubHub Center in Carson, California–seeks to answer some questions about Golovkin who has run over the majority of his opponents.
Can Rubio be the man to stop the freight train that is Gennady Golovkin? Or will GGG add another top 10 Middleweight name to the list of his victims?
Before “Mexican Style” goes down on Saturday night, RBRBoxing’s Editor-in-Chief, Alex Burgos, and Staff Writer, Lou Catalano, go head-to-head and break down two keys to victory for each man.
Let us know who you think will win this Middleweight clash. Take the talk to Twitter and tag @RBRBoxing
[yop_poll id=”84″]
Key #1 for Marco Antonio Rubio
Run Him into Something Nasty
http://youtu.be/AIg5YHCWHXo?t=33m50s
By Lou Catalano
There’s no sugar coating this–Marco Antonio Rubio is in some trouble here. He’s fighting The Beast, The Boogeyman, GGG, whatever you want to call him.
Gennady Golovkin is straight up demonic in the ring. But all credit to Rubio–he took the fight because he believes he can win. So how does he leave the ring on his feet as the winner instead of being gingerly carried out while his legs wobble like so much jello pudding?
Anybody can run. Anybody can desperately bounce from corner to corner while in survival mode. The problem is two-fold–first, Golovkin cuts off the ring as well as anyone in the sport. The other thing is that Rubio isn’t exactly fleet of foot.
What Rubio needs to do is circle the ring while firing shots as GGG comes in. Rubio can hit, probably harder than anyone GGG has ever fought. That’s huge. His best chance, really his only chance of winning, is to walk Golovkin into something.
But to do that, he has to keep those feet moving. Standing and trading will only end with him taking a nice snooze on the canvas, like he did when trading with Kofi Jantuah. He’ll need to be in the best shape of his life, but frankly if he’s fighting GGG at anything less than that, he’s going to be out of there quickly with a decent pay day and a grade three concussion. If he can punch while moving, he might be able to get Golovkin to overextend and catch him on the button.
If he moves well and fires shots as Golovkin closes the gap, it will help his odds immensely.
Key #1 for Gennady Golovkin
Unleash Your Hooks
By Alex Burgos
Whether he knows it or not, there is a substantial amount of pressure on Gennady Golovkin to turn in another remarkable performance on October 18. A huge turn out is expected for Golovkin’s California debut, and the blood-crazed crowd at the StubHub Center will be expecting nothing short of an eye-popping knockout.
In order to satisfy the hungry fans, Golovkin should look to land his devastating hooks. Fight fans may remember that almost exactly 10 years ago, Rubio was stretched out by Kofi Jantuah who landed a huge left hook upstairs, while Rubio attempted to land his own hook to the body.
If Golovkin can land a flush hook like Jantuah did so many years ago, Rubio could be seeing stars early on once again.
Golovkin is a true student of the game who uses shifting beautifully–like legends Jack Dempsey and Roberto Duran before him. One of the great things about Golovkin is that he will unleash three and four hooks in succession, all while shifting and allowing his momentum to fuel his punches (as seen in the clip above).
Golovkin may not find the space to land the hooks in combination in Round 1 as Rubio may be on his bike, but as the Mexican becomes more stationary Golovkin can surely find a home for this devastating punch.
Key #2 for Marco Antonio Rubio
Jab, Jab and Jab Some More
Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images
By Lou Catalano
Gennady Golovkin appears to be one of those guys you can’t really get a read on until you’re actually in there trying to survive his attack. Marco Antonio Rubio shouldn’t wait to find out what he’s got. He should jab relentlessly, if only to try and throw off Golovkin’s timing.
If he’s in a groove, Rubio is a dead man walking. If he can land the jab effectively, not only will it vastly increase his odds of survival, but it will give him a chance to land something big over the top. We haven’t really seen Golovkin take a wicked shot, let’s see if Rubio can be the one to test him.
To do that, he’ll need that left hand working overtime. Rubio does a nice job of landing the straight right after the jab, as evidenced here at about the one minute mark. Now clearly, that’s not Golovkin he’s doing that to, but you get the point. When Rubio has entered the ring as the bigger, stronger fighter, he’s done well. But when he’s not the biggest or hardest hitting dog in the fight–like with Kelly Pavlik, or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the results have been less-than-stellar. He’ll be in the same predicament with Golovkin–he won’t be the harder puncher. The simplest punch in the book will have to be his best friend.
Odds are pretty high that we’ll see another knockout win for Golovkin Saturday night on HBO. Let’s hope that Rubio can at least give him a run before succumbing to GGG’s will. We’re due for a firefight. Perhaps Golovkin is overlooking this guy. Maybe Rubio can deliver the goods. Stranger things have happened.
Key #2 for Gennady Golovkin
Apply Smart Pressure
By Alex Burgos
It’s no surprise to anyone that Gennady Golovkin’s multi-dimensional attack is one of the best in the game. He unleashes hooks, uppercuts jabs and crosses–all with precision. Often times, his opponents are taken out of their game early on in a fight and by the time they realize they can’t go toe-to-toe with the crazed Kazakh, it’s too late.
It remains to be seen whether Marco Antonio Rubio will be dumb enough to try and stand and trade with GGG. If he does, GGG can bank on those hooks that I mentioned from the first key early in the fight.
But, it’s safe to assume that Rubio will be smart and try to use movement and work behind a steady jab. If that is the case, Golovkin needs to walk Rubio down (like he does most of his opponents) and apply smart pressure.
What does that mean? Well, Golovkin should work his jab just as much if not more than Rubio is going to. Golovkin doesn’t need to come out throwing everything in his arsenal in Round 1. He should work up to the three and four punch combinations and see just how willing Rubio is to engage.
Remember, Rubio is arguably the heaviest hitter Golovkin has ever faced and he has already stated that he will be looking to capitalize on Golovkin’s defensive lapses.
I liked Golovkin’s pace to start off the fight against Curtis Stevens, but even in that fight Golovkin ate a few big punches early on and was backed up at times. If Golovkin isn’t defensively responsible, he might find himself on the mat because Rubio can bang.
But if Golovkin takes his time, uses his jab to setup power punches and doesn’t leave himself open to big counters, he’ll likely add Rubio to the “Good Boy” list by the middle rounds.
