Over in the US, at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, Gennady Golovkin hung on to his collection of middleweight titles.
Taking on Daniel Jacobs, Golovkin was forced to go the distance for the first time since 2008 in a fight that went right down to the wire.
At the conclusion of the twelve rounds the score cards were read out as thus:
? 115 ? 112 (in favour of Golovkin)
? 114 ? 113 (in favour of Golovkin)
? 115 ? 112 (in favour of Golovkin)
The victory, making Golovkin?s record read 37-0, takes the Kazahk closer to a super-fight with Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez.
The win was Golovkin?s 18th defence of his titles and talking about a fight with Canelo, Golovkin had this to say,
?Of course, I’m ready to fight Canelo.
‘I’m very hungry. I’m very mad and excited – I’m like an animal for this fight.’
In beating Jacobs, in what was a tight contest, Golovkin has his opponent on the canvas in round four, however Jacobs, in his after-fight interview, was of the opinion that he?d done enough to take the verdict, remarking to the media,
‘After the knockdown, I told him he would have to kill me to knock me out.
‘When I got up, I thought, ‘This is all he has? I got back up and I thought I won the fight.?
The punch statistics indicate that Golovkin landed 231 to the 175 landed by Jacobs, but after knocking out all those who have stood in front of him, since 2008, are the powers of Golovkin waning or was it an exceptional performance by Jacobs?
Golovkin Retains Titles with a Unanimous Verdict
