At times, the absence of the worst business practices in boxing leads to simple hardship in the ring. That was the case with Gennadiy Golovkin forcing him to go against IBF middleweight title contestant Kamil Szeremeta on Friday night. After seven lopsided rounds that saw Szeremeta knocked down four times, the referee had to cancel the fight, defeating Golovkin ‘s TKO and holding the IBF title firmly in his grip.
There was no mystery about whether Szeremeta could hang on with Golovkin and make the fight competitive away in the opening round. Golovkin quickly established his powerful injection, thwarting Szeremeta’s attempt to throw the same punch and did not produce a meaningful result for himself. Golovkin followed his injection with a thudding right hand that opened his power punches, and a left hand with Szeremeta ‘s wing put down in the opening frame.
Szeremeta would go down again in Round 2, this time from the right hand side of the Golovkin club. Szeremeta was once again able to beat the bill, but without the power to turn the tide – Szeremeta had only hit five hits in 21 fights against a low-level fight – no reason was given to give Golovkin his leg off the gas.
Golovkin would score two more goals, in the fourth and seventh rounds, before the referee had seen enough and put off the fight when the fights sat on their stools between rounds. It was a merciful end for Szeremeta, who was not as tough as his skills on this trip.
“Respect for trainer and Kamil corner,” Golovkin said of the stop. “They’re very smart because it was done. Come on, folks.”
All told, Golovkin sent out Szeremeta 228 to a total of 59 landings, including a 94-10 advantage in his jobs. Adding to the bad news for Szeremeta in the punch stats, Golovkin landed 56% of his power hits during the fight.
The obvious play for Golovkin is the third fight by Canelo Alvarez after their first fight ended in a draw and the second in a narrow majority decision for Alvarez.
Alvarez fights Saturday night, taking on Callum Smith for a pair of very mediocre titles. Golovkin was coy after the fight when asked about the possible trilogy, suggesting he was open to it, but not fully committed.
“Of course, I’m open to anyone,” Golovkin said. “The best opponent for me, for business, for DAZN, for people? We’ll stay with him tomorrow. I hope it’s a good event tomorrow. Who will win? I’m open.”
CBS Sports was with you all the way on Friday. Be sure to follow along with the live results and scenes below.
Fighting card, results
- Gennadiy Golovkin def. Kamil Szeremeta seventh round TKO
- Hyun Mi Choi (c) def. Calista Silgado by unanimous decision (97-93, 99-91, 98-92)
- John Ryder def. Michael Guy through unanimous decision (100-90, 99-91, 96-94)
- Carlos Gongora def. Ali Akhmedov through TKO 12-round
- Reshat Mati def. Dennis Okoth through TKO in the sixth round
GGG vs Szeremeta scorecard, live broadcast
|
Golovkin |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
TKO |
60 |
|||||
|
Szeremeta |
8 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
51 |