Gennady Golovkin defeats Sergiy Derevyanchenko by controversial UD

Gennady Golovkin had his hand raised in victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko to regain the IBF middleweight title. However, it was far from easy.

In the days leading up to his IBF and IBO middleweight title bout with Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs), Gennady Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) was clamoring for a rematch against Canelo Alvarez. Instead, he should have focused more on Derevyanchenko.

Before their Oct. 5 bout at Madison Square Garden, not many gave Derevyanchenko a chance of winning against Golovkin. At the end of the fight, Golovkin walked away with a unanimous decision victory, but questions linger about his fate.

Three years ago, Golovkin appeared invincible. His 2017 draw and 2018 loss to Alvarez cracked his invulnerable veneer. Derevyanchenko’s performance against Golovkin shattered it.

In round 1, Golovkin looked like the bullish power puncher of years past. Derevyanchenko boxed well in the early going. He used his jab and showed faster hands than Golovkin, but Golovkin caught Derevyanchenko with a right hand to the side of the head that sent him down. Derevyanchenko got to his feet and survived the rest of the round.

In round 2, Derevyanchenko regained his composure, but he still ate too many Golovkin left hands. One of those left hands opened up a severe cut over Derevyanchenko’s right eye. The IBF ruled it a headbutt, but the replay showed that a Golovkin punch did the damage.

It was a bad start for Derevyanchenko, but he rose to the occasion. From round 3 on, he invested punches to Golovkin’s body, and that changed the tenor of the fight. In the first minute of the third round, Derevyanchenko hit Golovkin with a left hook to the liver that doubled him over.

His elbows dropped down to shield his body, and Golovkin’s punch output significantly dipped. He never looked the same for the rest of the fight.

The remaining nine rounds were a war, but Derevyanchenko controlled most of the action. He continued to hit Golovkin to the body and hurt him on more than one occasion. Golovkin had his moments, but he threw one punch at a time. He had a hard time stringing combinations together and looked like he was hoping to land a single knockout blow. That punch never came.

Golovkin vs. Derevyanchenko was an entertaining and competitive slugfest, but Golovkin looked like he was missing something. He had long stretches of inactivity, and Derevyanchenko beat him up throughout the fight even though his damaged eye continued to bleed.

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The judges unanimously awarded the bout to Golovkin, but Derevyanchenko did enough to earn a draw at least. Many in the New York crowd booed with disapproval.

According to CompuBox statistics (via BoxingScene.com), Derevyanchenko threw 18 more punches than Golvkin but landed 13 less. Those numbers are as FanSided predicted, but Golovkin looked hurt periodically and allowed Derevyanchenko to outwork him. It should be noted that DAZN’s Chris Mannix had Derevyanchenko winning the fight by one point on his unofficial scorecard.

After the match, Golovkin acknowledged to DAZN that he needs added focus.

“I told you, he’s [Derevyanchenko] a very tough guy,” said Golovkin to DAZN. “This is huge experience for me. Right now, I understand I need more. Focus is boxing. This was a tough fight. I need a little bit more. I need to still get stronger in my camp. Just more serious. I need to work hard. I need a little bit more focus.”

Golovkin is again a middleweight champion, but he’s vulnerable and doesn’t look like he would fair well against Alvarez in a rematch. There’s more fight left in him, but he’s not the same fighter he once was.