Gennady Golovkin Center Stage Saturday – The Inglewood Forum hosts HBO Boxing this coming Saturday, April 23rd. The main event sees the top Middleweight fighter in the world Gennady Golovkin defending his multiple world titles against Dominic Wade. The co-feature bout sees WBC Super Flyweight champion and the man many consider the number one pound for pound fighter on the planet, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez as he faces McWilliams Arroyo.
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There is no need to mince words here. Golovkin and Gonzalez are signed to contracts with HBO that means the network has invested in the pair. They were the featured fighters on HBO’s October of 2015 pay-per-view that sold over 200,000 buys. Now back on “free” HBO, the pair are being given soft showcase fights where they can notch wins to a bigger audience.
Gonzalez (44-0) is the #1 ranked pound for pound fighter in the world today (TBRB.org) and since earning that lofty title after the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr, he has done nothing but win people over with his aggression and ability to string together eye-popping combinations of five and six punches. For his part, Arroyo comes with a wide amateur background that gives him solid pedigree and experience. That may allow him to extend the fight to the second half, but no one is expecting a win.
Check out this review of the Golvokin vs Wade and Gonzalez vs Arroyo fights, an exclusive at The Boxing Channel.
The same goes for Dominic Wade. Wade is 18-0 as a professional, but he has only one fight against a known opponent, and that was his last fight against Sam Soliman. Soliman is a former world champion, but at 44 years old, the fight with Wade is likely the last of his career. Wade deserves credit for taking the fight against Golovkin, but the sanctioning bodies moving Wade into the spot of number one contenders need to check themselves.
Golovkin is expected to far outclass Wade. The thing here is that Golovkin is 34 years old and at the peak of his maturity. He will probably not be affected by looking past Wade or by his desire to move past this bout into bigger fights for bigger money. Golovkin is a cold-hearted professional who is looking at this fight as just another day at the office.
HBO wants Golovkin to win, because they have their sites set on a showdown between Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Alvarez fight Amir Khan in two weeks on HBO pay-per-view and he is commonly considered the biggest draw in boxing right now. A Golovkin vs Alvarez bout would certainly be in the running for the biggest pay-per-view of 2016, and HBO does not have Triple “G” in a high risk fight this weekend
Gennady Golovkin Centerstage Saturday
Middleweight 12 rounds –
Dominic Wade +5000
Gennady Golovkin -12500
Over/under 6 1/2 o+175 u-210
Flyweight 12 rounds –
McWilliams Arroyo +3000
Roman Gonzalez -7000
Over/under 8 1/2 o+110 – u-110
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