Gennady G. Golovkin of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, knocked out Marco Antonio Rubio of Mexico in round two of an Oct. 19 bout in Carson, California to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim championship belt and extend his winning streak to 31 wins, 28 of which he finished with knockouts.
This was an important win for Golovkin, the reigning WBA middleweight champion, as it was his largest purse at $900,000 and Rubio is considered one of the toughest opponents the Kazakh has faced. Rubio has 59 wins and 51 by KO, 7 losses (after the fight against Golovkin) and is known for hard punches.
Golovkin made a statement before the bout admitting that this one could end by decision, “I know Rubio is a very smart guy. He won’t give me too many chances for lucky punches,” he said.
On top of that Rubio didn’t make weight by 800 milligrammes the day before and his payment terms were cut from $450,000 to $350,000. The camps made an agreement that Rubio would lose the WBC interim title in mid-weight and if he won, he would strip Golovkin of his title.
But the bout ended quickly with some fans joking that Golovkin’s post-fight interview lasted longer than the bout.
Golovkin won by trapping Rubio and attacking from the centre.
The first round ended with a few powerful exchanges but the second with a knock out on the 19th second as Rubio stumbled to his feet at the count of ten, and the fight was stopped.
After the fight Golovkin, once again challenged any current world champions to face him in the ring and thanked his fans for their support.
The GGG, as Golovkin is known, phenomenon continues to attract international attention as the Kazakh boxer racks up more wins and KOs.
One other thing GGG has been doing is attracting attention to his home country. At a recent programme of Larry King Now, King spoke to Rosie Perez, an Academy Award-nominated actress, of this boxer. She heaped praise on Golovkin for being such a great fighter from Kazakhstan, calling him “electric”, to which King replied, “I have an honorary degree from a university in Kazakhstan, I was giving a speech there. That’s a great country, by the way.”
