Photo by Will Hart/HBO
Saturday, February 21, 2015, Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) faces off against heavy-hitting Middleweight champion, Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs).
The bout will air live on HBO starting at 5:45 pm, EST. Golovkin will be looking to score his 19th consecutive KO victory against the battle-tested St Helen native, who could be GGG’s toughest outing yet.
Will Murray have what it takes to stop the juggernaut that is Golovkin, or will Gennady score another scintillating stoppage victory and continue his Middleweight dominance?
Before the two fighters square off in the ring, RBRBoxing’s Lou Catalano and Lauren Pinkerton go head to head with two keys to victory for each man.
Let us know who you think will win this Middleweight clash.
[yop_poll id=”116″]
Key #1 for Martin Murray
Stay Tight, Keep the Chin Down
By Lauren Pinkerton
At this point it’s a blatant fact that Gennady Golovkin hits extremely hard. What’s nice about this though, is that Martin Murray isn’t the type to keep his hands down.
Murray is actually pretty decent at keeping his guard tight and staying tucked in behind his jab. If he can continue to use this technique and jabs efficiently, then the Englishman could end up being a more difficult target to hit, especially when his three-inch range advantage becomes a factor.
On top of this, Murray has a pretty solid chin, at least from what we’ve seen so far. But at least this fight won’t resemble a charging bull attacking my mom’s china set.
Of course, no one can really prepare for the force behind Golovkin’s punches, but Murray has already proven that he can take a good hit. If he continues to keep his chin tucked, he’s got a chance of surviving.
Key #1 for Gennady Golovkin
Dig to the Body
Martin Murray is a stand up fighter who likes to throw the quick one-two combo. Gennady Golovkin throws everything in the book, and he throws it all exceptionally well.
Let’s be honest here, Murray will be lucky to finish this fight without either rambling incoherently or sucking food through a straw. But he is rather crafty, so GGG would be wise to start the fight by landing shots to the midsection.
Murray will be looking for the head shots, so Gennady should be able to bash happily away at his inner organs until they’re properly liquefied. This will properly soften him up for the kill.
Key #2 for Martin Murray
Dance Fast, Dance Hard
By Lauren Pinkerton
This is not precisely saying that Martin Murray should dance away from his target, but this isn’t saying that he should not either.
The big problem with fighting Gennady Golovkin is that he’s not only a heavy hitter, but he’s actually smart about his technique too.
The Kazakh is fantastic at cutting his opponents off.
The way that Murray can avoid this issue is by putting his footwork into high gear. Cutting angles won’t be enough in this fight, he’s going to have to work large lateral steps that are well timed. He’ll need to control the pace of the fight by stepping in and out of the pocket from radically different angles if he wants a chance of avoiding GGG.
Whatever he does though, he has to do it quickly–or at least quicker than the “Good Boy.” If Murray gets caught off balanced during one of these removal steps, then it’s game over for him.
Key #2 for Gennady Golovkin
Cut off the Ring
There is no way Martin Murray is going toe-to-toe with GGG unless he’s good and suicidal, so he’ll be looking to stick and move.
Gennady Golovkin is one of the better fighters in the world at properly cutting off the ring, and he’ll look to do that here. Even if Murray proves to have an Incredible Hulk-like beard, the pressure Golovkin creates alone should be enough to sap a substantial amount of energy from the British fighter.
From there, it’s only a matter of time. The hammer will drop, probably directly on Murray’s skull, and it will be snooze time. And then Gennady will say something like “I’m smash on him,” and we’ll all laugh and Max Kellerman will cream himself.
Someday, somebody will test Golovkin. Perhaps it will happen soon. I’m just not counting on it happening Saturday night.
Hopefully, this is another springboard to something bigger, because the sooner he’s in a mega-fight, the better it is for all of us.
