Unbeaten Kazakh Gennady Golovkin (25-0, 22) will look for his second win this year as he puts his WBA and IBO Middleweight titles on the line against the upset minded Japanese fighter Nobuhiro Ishida (24-8-2, 9). On paper the bout looks like a complete mismatch though many said the same before Ishida shocked the then unbeaten James Kirkland a little over 2 years ago. Going in to that bout Kirkland, like Golovkin now, was season as a monster puncher who could destroy anyone if he landed cleanly.
The 37 year old Ishida goes in to this bout as the big under-dog, this is partly based on him and partly based on Golovkin, though he is a very under-rated fighter on his own merits. Ishida not only has over 12 years of professional experience under his belt with over 260 rounds but he also has experience fighting around the world. Sure he started his career in his native Japan but he has, in recent years, also fought in the USA, Mexico and Russia as he's become a bit of a road warrior.
Ishida's experience may be an advantage but his major advantage is in his size. At 6'1" and with a 72" reach some have described Ishida as "the Japanese Tommy Hearns", because like Hearns he's a bit of a physical freak in terms of height and reach (although he lacks Tommy's insane power). Although he lacks the thunderous power of Hearns he has managed to show speed, an impressive jab and maybe most notably he's shown heart.
In his 2 most recent losses (unanimous decisions to Paul Williams and Dmitry Pirog) Ishida was thoroughly beaten but in neither bout did he ever look like folding, in fact he looked like he could take the punishment pretty much none stop showing toughness and real guts, something he will need here.
At 30 years old Golovkin is a fighter who appears to have finally started getting some traction in his professional career after some seriously frustrating issues for both him and fans. In fact it's fair to say that Golovkin was, for several years part of the "who needs him club?" having proven himself to be a monster in the amateurs (where he beat a genuine who's who).
Since turning professional back in 2006 Golovkin has been a fighter that the hardcore fans have supported whilst almost begging for him to get bigger fights, something that has started to happen thanks to fan support and HBO in America (who have bankrolled his last 2 bouts). Whilst some may thank HBO for those fights it's more a case of HBO knowing that in Golovkin they have a very attractive product who is fun to watch, powerful, skilled and will pretty much fight anyone.
Sure Golovkin isn't impossible to catch (he does appear to be a very tough fighter though), but every shot he lands seems to have dynamite behind it. His jabs seem to look like straights, his hooks and uppercuts look like shot gun blasts and best of all he seems to do it whilst always perfectly balanced, a rare trait that shows some special skill that so few have.
Thanks to HBO Golovkin has been shown twice in the US destroying Grzegorz Proksa and more recently defeating Gabriel Rosado to continue a 12 fight stoppage run that he'll be hoping to extend to 13 fights here.
Whilst Ishida has notable size advantage (4" in height) oddly Golovkin has the longer reach and could neutralise the jab of Ishida. Despite this I imagine we'll see Golovkin starting as a pressure fighter taking the jabs of Ishida mostly on the guard whilst walking him down and stalking before unloading in the corner. Whilst Ishida is tough I do imagine that Golovkin's pressure and power will start to take the toll and Ishid will eventually fold after showing a remarkable amount of heart.
Prediction- Golovkin TKO8
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