Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin Looking to Pass Another Test

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The numbers come spilling out and they’re tough to ignore: An 18-fight knockout streak; the 90-percent knockout ratio -- the highest of any middleweight world champion in boxing history -- that’s seven-straight years since he’s gone the distance.

Those are the gaudy stats Gennady Golovkin owns. He is the most devastating puncher in boxing today, and without question one of the sport’s rising superstars.

But as the 32-year-old WBA middleweight champion gets ready to defend that title against England’s Martin Murray on HBO at 5:45 PM ET at the Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, we still don’t know all of what “GGG” is capable of doing.

Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) will be facing a challenging opponent in Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs), whose only career blemishes were a controversial decision loss to then middleweight world champion Sergio Martinez and a draw to Felix Sturm in Mannheim, Germany in 2011.

Related » Boxing Preview: ‘GGG’ vs. Murray

Indications are it could be another quick night for the powerful Golovkin. Murray has never faced anyone with the kind of tortuous punching torque that GGG possesses. What’s more is Golovkin needs to stop Murray and push his streak to 19 straight to have anyone significant think about taking him on.

Golovkin’s versatility could be unmatched, since he has also disposed of his opponents in a variety of ways. He stopped Marco Antonio Rubio last October with a looping left hook that bounced off the top of the head. A veering right cross downed Australian Daniel Geale. What’s more impressive is that GGG threw the knockout punch going backwards on a back foot. A right hand put Matt Macklin out for nearly four minutes. And a concussive right sent Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishida unconscious through the ropes.

That kind of power makes Golovkin downright frightening.

It also explains why everyone has avoided GGG. Miguel Cotto, the new world middleweight champion, seems to want no part of him. Golovkin even put out a challenge to meet pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather at junior middleweight, which is really the fight boxing fans truly want to see.

That’s the conundrum GGG faces: He’s being ignored by the upper crust of the sport, yet hasn’t really been tested to see if he truly belongs in the same category as the Mayweathers, Manny Pacquiaos, Andre Wards and Wladimir Klitschkos.

Golovkin is in limbo land, through no fault of his own.

Trainer Abel Sanchez has done wonders with Golovkin, breaking down his eastern European upright style, to more of a lurking stalker ready to pounce out of his crouched position. Before Sanchez got him, Golovkin was a patient, almost reluctant puncher, thinking and being more reactive than proactive.

In the meantime, Golovkin chews up quality opponents like Murray; good fighters without much chance of combating the awesome firepower of Golovkin.

“I don’t see any weaknesses in Golovkin,” Murray admitted. “Martinez and Sturm both lost. They showed they were vulnerable. Golovkin has never been knocked down. There are no chinks in his armor that I could see. He’s fresher than Sturm and Martinez were when I fought them.”

Murray said he and his trainer, Oliver Harrison, have worked on various game plans to try and exploit something in Golovkin that no one has found.

“I’m ready to go the distance with Golovkin,” Murray said. “This is about giving it my all and about finishing the fight without any doubts in my head that I didn’t. I’ve trained harder over the last 12 weeks, working harder than I ever have before in my career.”

Murray feels Golovkin might have a faulty defense. Again, it’s an unknown, considering no one GGG has faced has been good enough to test the theory.

“Hopefully I’ll be the first,” Murray said. “There have been about 10 different game plans that we’ve been working on, all rolled into one. We want to cover every possible scenario that could happen.”

Whether or not Murray is just another blip on the Golovkin screen will be determined Saturday. Or just maybe Murray can apply the kind of pressure Golovkin needs to see -- what we all need to see -- to determine what else is there. The Russian expatriate has stopped 28 of 31 opponents. His popularity is burgeoning with each fight, and yet, we still don’t know just how good Gennady Golovkin is.

Joseph Santoliquito is the president of the Boxing Writer's Association of America and a frequent contributor to Sherdog.com's mixed martial arts and boxing coverage. His archive can be found here.