Of all boxing’s points, the leverage and significance of sanctioning our bodies ranks close to the highest. Friday’s struggle between IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin and Kamil Szeremeta from Seminole Laborious Rock Resort and On line casino in Hollywood, Florida (5 p.m. ET on DAZN, sign up now) is a direct results of the politics pushed by these sanctioning our bodies.
Golovkin is 38 and already appears as if his greatest days as a boxer are behind him. Time catches as much as all males, in spite of everything, even top-tier athletes. Whereas the world is ready for a trilogy struggle between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, or actually any “A-list” struggle involving Golovkin, he has been compelled into a compulsory title protection in opposition to Szeremeta, a struggle he has to take or vacate the championship.
Szeremeta’s 21-0 report passes the preliminary eye check. A deeper look, nonetheless, brings up critical questions on how he has labored his method into the IBF’s rankings as the highest contender to Golovkin’s belt. Szeremeta has simply 5 knockout wins in his profession. Two fights in the past, Szeremeta beat Edwin Palacios, a fighter who’s at the moment using a 10-fight dropping skid and has been knocked out in six of his seven most up-to-date fights. The lone man Palacios took to choice? Szeremeta.
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The fault for dangerous matchmaking cannot be laid on the toes of Golovkin. World championships matter to fighters they usually’re routinely backed into corners to both struggle their obligatory or sacrifice their title on the altar of politics. Belts are additionally bargaining chips, and in making a trilogy struggle with Alvarez, having a title might help Golovkin push for a rise in his share of the purse after dropping the second struggle to Canelo by majority choice after a cut up draw of their first assembly.
Alvarez can be in motion in opposition to Callum Smith on Saturday, trying to decide up a pair of tremendous middleweight belts. Ought to each males win, they’re now on the identical schedule and a spring struggle between the 2 could possibly be made. Yet another dance with Canelo would give Golovkin the chance to choose up a very career-defining victory.
That’s, in fact, so long as Golovkin does not endure a doubtlessly career-destroying loss to Szeremeta.
Golovkin vs. Szeremeta card, odds
Gennadiy Golovkin (c) -2200 vs. Kamil Szeremeta +1100, IBF middleweight title
Hyun Mi Choi vs. Calista Silgado, junior light-weight
John Ryder vs Michael Man, tremendous middleweight
Ali Akhmedov vs. Carlos Gongora, tremendous middleweight
Reshat Mati vs. Dennis Okoth, welterweight
Jalan Walker vs. Rafael Reyes, featherweight
Prediction
There’s not a lot thriller round this struggle. Golovkin is a strain fighter and a real elite-level finisher. The counter to that fashion is to have sufficient energy to discourage your opponent from unloading with their greatest weapons. Szeremeta has no true energy to talk of, exhibiting no actual skill to constantly knock out even low-end opponents. That leaves Szeremeta with one path to victory: a flawless technical boxing efficiency. Golovkin is simply too good of a fighter to get outworked over 12 rounds by a man who cannot damage him. This needs to be a simple evening of labor for the champ. Choose: Golovkin through TKO3