Gennady Golovkin vs Marco Antonio Rubio News: Golovkin's "Mexican Style" Drawing Big Crowd in West Coast Debut
Gennady Golovkin puts his World Boxing Association middleweight title and his undefeated 30-0 record up against Mexico's Marco Antonio Rubio Saturday night as the Kazakh boxer continues to look for bigger challenges and larger paydays.
"I'm very excited to fight in California," said Golovkin. "I always enjoy attending fights at the StubHub Center. I have a lot of friends from California who support me. It is very important for me. This is a big fight for me."
Golovkin is making his debut in the West Coast this weekend, fighting at the StubHub Center in Carson, California in match to be televised Saturday night on HBO. The Kazakh sold out the venue, with promoters adding extra bleacher seats and selling standing room only tickets to supply the demand to see the man known as Triple G to his growing fanbase.
Part of Golovkin's draw in his upcoming fight against Rubio is his fighting style, especially among Hispanic fight fans, considering that in his 30 professional fights, 27 of Golovkin's bouts have ended in knockouts, fighting a "Mexican style" of the sweet science.
"It's his debut on the west coast so it was very important for K2 Promotions and Tom Loeffler to make a statement as far as ticket sales to prove that GGG is growing and becoming a bigger attraction," said HBO interpreter Vassili Ossipov to Latin Post. "The fact that the card is sold out speaks for itself. GGG is getting popular among Hispanic boxing fans, which has a huge potential to grow. It will also play a role when trying to attract bigger names."
Golovkin has not let his critics, who say that he has fought "tomato cans" or that the 32-year-old 2004 Athens Olympic silver medalist cannot sell tickets outside of the East Coast American market, get in his way.
"We'll have the biggest crowd ever for a fight here by more than a thousand. That includes some big names," said K2 Promoter Tom Loeffler, who represents Golovkin, to Kevin Iole. "[Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr. fought there. Andre Ward fought there. Brandon Rios. Timothy Bradley. A lot of the big names in boxing fought in this venue and we're going to have the biggest number by a healthy margin."
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Rubio (59-6-1) will be one of Golovkin's toughest challenges to date. Since losing to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2012, Rubio has gone on a six-fight win streak with five knockouts going into Saturday's fight for the Golovkin's title. While not the biggest household name on Golovkin's resume, a lot is riding on this match for Triple G as far as future opponents and from a business standpoint.
Golovkin is looking to attract bigger names to fight but to no avail, having challenged and been rejected by the likes of Chavez Jr., Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto. His 90 percent knockout ratio makes a match against Golovkin a high-risk, low-reward for opposing fighters despite the criticism against his resume.
Current WBA and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight champion Carl Froch described his approach towards fighting Triple G as, "Just swerve Golovkin like the plague. He punches like a mule. I don't need to be in with him. Dangerous fight."
Some have seen Froch's comments as a sign that he wants to avoid getting into the ring against Triple G, especially since Froch's manager, Eddie Hearn, is not interested in putting his client in the squared circle against Golovkin. Hearn said recently that, "The problem you've got is there's not enough money in the pot for the bigger names to fight him. He hasn't got the commercial name to draw the casual fans yet," despite having drawn 1.4 million viewers on HBO.
"[Saul] Canelo and Cotto are well established names and, technically, they don't have to take a huge risk by fighting GGG to get a payday," said Ossipov to Latin Post. "My opinion is, the more people GGG keeps knocking out, the fewer chances [he has] at the biggest names like Cotto."
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, who recently signed an exclusive contract with HBO and is looking to fight on Cinco De Mayo weekend against Cotto, says he is game to go up against Golovkin, saying they are not "far apart on the weight."
"Two years, one year," said Alvarez in a presser after signing his HBO deal. "I can't really determine that right now. My own body will tell me when."
Cotto's trainer, Freddie Roach, also has eyes on the Golovkin-Rubio match, saying that Cotto would entertain a match against Golovkin, barring a rematch against Floyd Mayweather.
"I think Canelo Alvarez is obviously our number-one choice, and then I would love to go fight 'Triple G' after we win that fight," said Roach in an interview as he prepares Manny Pacquiao for his fight on Nov. 22 against Chris Algieri.
All these plans are irrelevant if Golovkin cannot beat Rubio. Although Triple G may be the heavy favorite, future plans can change very quickly with just one punch -- especially against a heavy puncher like Rubio, which is why Golovkin is focused on his match on Saturday.
"A knockout is very important to me," said Golovkin. "I know how important it is for me and my team. I understand my situation. People like knockouts. I like knockouts. This is boxing, so I want a knockout. It's very important for me. I like big drama show. I like knockouts."
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