I used the “WayBackMachine” internet archive website to gather the Ring Magazine divisional ranking of each opponent at the time of their contest against Golovkin. Also, to simplify things, I rated their champ as the number one ranked fighter in the 160lb division and everybody else accordingly.
Note: This post is not meant to undermine Golovkin’s feats, but to help you evaluate his achievements and his dominant performances in their true context, based on the calibre of the opposition he has been facing. So please don’t get too upset about the things I’ve written, because everything I’ve stated is factually-correct, based on information supplied by reliable third-party sources.
My comments are in the context of the facts of each world title contender at the time they entered the ring against Golovkin:
Date: 23/04/16 Opponent: Dominic Wade Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A lightly-regarded opponent whose only accomplishment was scoring a controversial decision victory over a 41 year old shot version of Sam Soliman
Date: 17/10/15 Opponent: David Lemieux Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 5
Was the IBF champion (after competing for the vacant belt and having never defended his crown), a former light middleweight, at the time of the GGG fight, had suffered two losses on his record, with one of them being a stoppage defeat to Marco Antonio Rubio (who himself was KO'd inside two rounds by Golovkin)
Date: 16/05/15 Opponent: Willie Monroe Jr Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former light middleweight that was lightly-regarded and was untested, having never previously competed against a top-ten world-rated middleweight prior to the Golovkin bout
Date: 21/02/15 Opponent: Martin Murray Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 7
A two-time failed world title challenger, with only one loss on his resume prior to facing Golovkin
Date: 18/10/14 Opponent: Marco Antonio Rubio Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 8
A former welterweight and two-time failed world title challenger, with six losses on his resume, that had previously been dominated or stopped by Chavez Jr. and Pavlik
Date: 26/07/14 Opponent: Daniel Geale Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 3
A former world middleweight champion that had already tasted defeat against Golovkin in the amateurs and lost his world title in his penultimate bout prior to facing GGG
Date: 01/02/14 Opponent: Osumanu Adama Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
One-time failed world title challenger, a former light middleweight and a lightly-regarded opponent
Date: 02/11/13 Opponent: Curtis Stevens Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 11
An anonimous fighter that had already lost three times prior to facing Golovkin, one of them to the lightly regarded Jessie Brinkley
Date: 29/06/13 Opponent: Matthew Macklin Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 7
A former welterweight, one time failed world title challenger and entered the ring against GGG having lost two of his previous three bouts
Date: 30/03/13 Opponent: Nobuhiro Ishida Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former light middleweight that had failed to win ten of his bouts, entered the ring against Golovkin having tasted defeat in his previous two outings
Date: 19/01/13 Opponent: Gabriel Rosado Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former light middleweight, having lost five fights, that had never previously engaged in either a 160lb bout nor a world title fight
Date: 01/09/12 Opponent: Grzegorz Proksa Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: 10
Was defeated in one of his previous three bouts immediately prior to facing Golovkin and was also a former light middleweight
Date: 12/05/12 Opponent: Makoto Fuchigami Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
An anonimous fighter that had already lost six times
Date: 09/12/11 Opponent: Lajuan Simon Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A failed world title challenger that had lost three of his previous five bouts at the time he fought Golovkin… and had even lost his previous bout immediately prior to facing GGG
Date: 17/06/11 Opponent: Kassim Ouma Divisional Ring Magazine Rating: Unranked
A former welterweight contender and 154lb world champion that had tasted defeat in five of his previous seven bouts at the time he entered the ring against Golovkin
Golovkin’s next opponent is 12-year veteran, whose competes as a welterweight and has never scored a clear-cut decisive victory over a top-ten world class 147lb-er.
Thoughts?
