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By: Hans Themistode
Gennadiy Golovkin once stormed through the middleweight division with ease. During much of his 20s, he wasted no time in putting his opponents out of their misery. Once Golovkin reached his prime years, following each of his fights, his gloves, boxing trunks and even the ring itself would be soaked in the blood of his opponents.
Known for the savagery of his beatings, Golovkin has slowed since then. With two hard-fought meetings against Canelo Alvarez in 2017 and 2018, the latter resulting in a highly disputed majority decision loss, Golovkin has spent more and more of his time watching the action from the sidelines.
Having competed just three times since 2019, dust has piled up considerably on the birth certificate of the soon-to-be 40-year-old. But, regardless of his age, Golovkin continues to carry on.
In exactly one week, Golovkin will attempt to unify titles against WBA champion, Ryota Murata. With Golovkin turning 40 one day prior to their April 9th showdown, Derrick James finds it pointless for Golovkin to continue fighting at his age. While the world-renowned trainer points a blaming finger in the direction of several for pushing the aging veteran in the ring, he believes that if something unfortunate happens to the future Hall of Famer, he should shoulder most of that blame.
“He’s 40, he’s still fighting? Why? Why is the manager still negotiating a fight if he’s 40-years-old unless he really needs something. This is the thing about these 40-year-old guys,” explained James during an interview with Fight Hub TV. “If you get in the ring, it’s on you for whatever happens to you. Be mad at the promoter, be mad at his management, be mad at his wife or his family for him getting in the ring, that’s on him.”
Despite the feelings of James, there appears to be no end in sight for Golovkin. In addition to his upcoming bout against Murata, he’s already tentatively scheduled to return to the ring in September against Alvarez. Provided, of course, he takes care of business against Murata and Alvarez is successful in his light heavyweight venture against Dmitry Bivol on May 7th.
Since given no choice but to swallow the split decision draw and majority decision defeat against Alvarez in their unforgettable contests, Golovkin maintains that he was given the short end of the stick.
If all goes well in their preceding bouts, Golovkin will be granted his wish of facing Alvarez once more. However, as their third collision seems inevitable, Alvarez has been the subject of unwanted backlash. With the Mexican star smack dab in the middle of his prime and Golovkin on the back end of his career, many view their possible clash as a one-sided mismatch in favor of Alvarez.
But, regardless of that notion, James believes that absolutely no vitriol should be aimed in the direction of Alvarez.
“You can’t be mad at Canelo for taking care of what he needs to do.”
