Have you guys seen that new boxing book: “Where’s Golovkin?” It’s kind of like “Where’s Waldo,” but instead of the nerdy white guy looking to be found, a Kazakh power puncher is wearing the trademark Waldo ski cap and red-and-white sweater.
Unlike Waldo, though, Golovkin is not hidden inside of a cluttered mess of a drawing. He’s right there in the open, nothing around him and nothing hiding him. Everyone’s just supposed to PRETEND they can’t find him.
“Where the fuck is GGG?,” WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo told Brian Custer on Custer’s Last Stand podcast. “Why ain’t nobody talking about him? He’s still top tier. If I can’t get Canelo, at least I can get GGG, right?”
Wrong.
Golovkin isn’t wanting to be found and fight fans are supposed to avert their eyes and just keep heaping shitty criticism on top of Canelo Alvarez.
WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade, who’s a DAZN stablemate of Golovkin’s, would also like to find the Kazakh for a “big drama show.”
“I don't understand why Triple G is not willing to get into the ring with anybody else to unify the division,” Andrade recently lamented on DAZN’s AK & Barak Show.
I guarantee you that a horde of hardcore Golovkin fans (AKA: Golovkinites) will be jump in right about now, screaming: “...so Charlo and Andrade should just fight each other!”
Those nimrods would be missing the not-so-subtle double standard baked into this whole BS scenario. Charlo-Andrade is not as easy to make as Golovkin-Andrade and nowhere as big as Golovkin-Charlo. And, anyway, why the flying fuck are there so many fight fans racing in to make excuses for Golovkin NOT fighting either of these guys or, for that matter, anyone that isn’t a soft touch fall guy or Canelo Alvarez?
Well, I can tell you why. It’s because these people-- media included-- are fucking brainwashed and have bought into the Golovkin hype that has allowed the guy an absolute free pass. And, because of that, Golovkin, himself, feels entitled to a continued free ride.
I wrote the following back in 2018-- before further free ride paydays against the likes of Vanes Martirosyan, Steve Rolls, and Kamil Szeremeta.
“Looking over a career that has been remarkably hand-rigged and filled with a copious degree of entitlement, GGG rose to prominence fighting smaller men and those stylistically tailor-made to make him look good. A casual look at Golovkin’s resume shows that of twenty ‘world’ title fights, at least ten have come against fighters moving up in weight from at least one division below and none—until Daniel Jacobs and Canelo Alvarez—have come against anyone with the physicality or skill level needed to even make Golovkin breathe hard.
Most interesting, though, is the fact that, while GGG ran through a minefield of deactivated mines at zero risk to himself, his people had no critical eye turned towards them at all. They’ve gotten nothing but free passes from day one and are still coasting from Sergio Martinez not fighting their guy and from two years’ worth of masterful publicity generated in their pursuit of big money middleweight bouts with natural junior middleweights [at the time] Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez.”
That sense of entitlement from Triple G continues. If anything, it’s been amplified by having suckered the suits at DAZN into gifting him a six-fight, nine-figure deal. But without the HBO hype team spit-shining his every move into glimmering gold and management fall guys taking any flak for less-than-daring-matchmaking, the new and independent Triple G has about as much luster as a brown paper bag.
Still, the guy ain’t budging from the only career path he’s ever known as a pro. If he doesn’t want to fight someone, he won’t. If someone represents a tough stylistic task, he won’t consider them. If the guy calling him out isn’t the one guy he’s fixated on, the one guy whose reward is worth the risk-- and I do mean ONE guy-- then, he’s 100% not interested. And he’ll brush by legit challenges with impunity because he’s never been held to the same standard as other fighters.
Blame the fawning Golovkinites, fapping media, and HBO Boxing for this.
Golovkin is a stellar offensive fighter and we might’ve seen some true classics if his feet had been held to the fire when it comes to his matchmaking. A guy just coming up like Golovkin WILL come across stars doing their best to avoid him. It happens to a lot of fighters. And these guys have to adjust and find ways to get true legacy-defining fights. Sometimes that means moving to a new weight class, low-balling their own earnings to entice opponents, or taking risks against foes who have name value, but an unappealing boxing style. Golovkin, however, just kept fighting roadkill, stiffs, and tailor-made fall guys. And his star kept growing.
Now that the hot air has stopped being blown, turbo-speed, up our asses and things are pretty clear about who this guy really is, former raging Golovkinites are scrambling for answers. Most have simply come to the conclusion that the man is 38 and “winding down.” He’s only a marginal factor in the fight scene at the moment because he’s past his prime.
No, idiots. He’s not doing anything now that he hasn’t been doing before. Except, now, we don’t have half of fandom, 99% of the media, and all of HBO Boxing shitting us, telling us that Kamil Szeremeta was, actually, a damn good fighter.
So, Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade, or, for that matter, anyone who’s good, challenging, and NOT Canelo Alvarez-- and it seems like maybe he’s not even all that interested in fighting Canelo anymore-- don’t expect any interest from Triple G. And expect the befuddled, but still-existing, true believer Golovkinites to keep facilitating their fighter’s hiding in plain sight.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com