20 little-known facts about Gennady Golovkin

2. Golovkin’s title fights last an average of 5.5 rounds

It’s been firmly established that Gennady Golovkin is a knockout artist of practically unmatched variety and brutality, but a concrete stat reinforcing this is worth mentioning: Golovkin’s 18 world title fights have lasted an average of only 5.5 rounds. This is part of the reason that Golovkin has remained so dominant into his mid-thirties; he’s never been in a brutal bout featuring punishing two-way action, and it is often the case that he hardly sustains any notable damage at all (although less so recently).

Interestingly, Golovkin has only scored one first-round knockout during his championship reign – against Lajuan Simon in 2011. (Golovkin halted Milton Nunez in a single stanza to claim the WBA “interim” title prior to this.) However, Golovkin has scored second-round stoppages against Marco Antonio Rubio and Dominic Wade, and he’s dispatched Daniel Geale, Matthew Macklin, Nobuhiro Ishida, Makoto Fuchigami and Nilson Julio Tapia in three rounds. In fact, three of Golovkin’s most iconic knockouts came in those bouts that ended in a mere three frames: the Ishida, Macklin and Geale stoppages are devastating and magnificent in equal measure.

The only fighters to extend Golovkin past nine rounds are the rugged Martin Murray (TKO 11), former titlist Kassim Ouma (TKO 10) and Daniel Jacobs (UD 12). Jacobs, as stated earlier, is the only fighter to have gone the distance with Golovkin in a championship contest, and he also ended the Kazakh’s 23-fight knockout streak. Even someone like former welterweight champion Kell Brook, who had a few scintillating moments early on against Golovkin, could only survive for five rounds.

Gennady Golovkin, despite being the favorite against Canelo Alvarez, will likely have to fight into the final third of his September 16 bout. Golovkin stopping Canelo in fewer than six rounds would be surprising and somewhat disappointing given the magnitude of the match and the Mexican’s steady improvement over the past few years. Of greater intrigue is whether the Jacobs fight was a mere aberration. Was it more a case of Jacobs’ athleticism befuddling the Kazakh, or Golovkin’s inability to finish the Brooklynite when he had him reeling? Canelo will surely stay within firing range long enough for Golovkin to answer these questions.