Gennady Golovkin turned in a superb performance, as he dealt with his mandatory challenger, Kamil Szeremeta in style, defending his IBF and IBO Middleweight titles with a ruthless display, dropping his man four times en route to a retirement after seven rounds.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) defended his crown for the 21st time, surpassing the great Bernard Hopkins’ record, dismantling the game Szeremeta (21-1, 5 KOs).
’Triple G’ began off a stiff jab that reddened the challenger’s face as early as the first two minutes of the opener, and, after a left uppercut from ‘GGG’ seemed to stiffen the Pole, the Kazakh exploded into life with a big left hand from a crouched position landing flush to drop the challenger right on the bell.
Szeremeta survived the count, but Golovkin was in a different league to his opponent, and a right hand in the second forced Szeremeta to hold as it shook him up.
A glancing right hand from Golovkin dumped the 31-year-old to the canvas for a second time as his senses scrambled, but again, he bravely made it to the bell.
The jab was just way too much for Szeremeta to handle, and Golovkin set up his power punches to perfection from it, landing several of his repertoire in the third.
The underdog did continue to come forward, but he again found the canvas in round four, with an overhand right followed by a short left hook doing the damage.
Szeremeta again found his feet quickly, but this was as one-sided a fight as it could get. Ahead of the sixth, Golovkin’s trainer, Johnathon Banks, implored his charge to end matters, but it would wait until the seventh, as the fight mercifully reached its conclusion.
The champion went straight to work at the start of the session, and it was a stiff left jab that drove Szeremeta to the canvas for a fourth time. This time, there was no respite for him though, as several more heavy shots forced Szeremeta’s corner to pull their man out at the end of the round.
Golovkin admitted in the aftermath he was open to facing the winner of Canelo Alvarez’s clash with Callum Smith in Texas on Saturday.
“I’m so happy, it was a great show and event,” Golovkin told DAZN post-fight.
“I told you I would come back. I’m still smart. I felt very comfortable, I have a lot of good people around me.
“I am open for anyone, open for the best opponent for me, for business and for DAZN and the fans.
“I hope tomorrow is a great event [Canelo vs Smith] and I am open [to face the winner]”.
Ryder eases past Guy
John Ryder returned from the disappointment of losing out to Callum Smith in a world title bid last time out with a wide points win over Michael Guy, who had little ambition in winning, and spoiled his way to the final bell in a forgettable fight.
Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs) began patiently, working out what Guy (12-6-1, 5 KOs) had to offer before totally committing in a first round starved of action.
The Californian was using the whole of the ring, and that was making for a dull fight as he stayed out of range, and wasn’t really willing to engage with the Londoner.
The pattern continued pretty much through the fight, and Guy finally let his hands go in the seventh, but that in turn allowed Ryder to get some shots off of his own.
The fight slipped back into its familiar feeling though, and the 39-year-old was more intent on surviving than winning, whilst ‘The Gorilla’ was frustrated in his efforts in trying to get through to his opponent.
He had done more than enough to win though but somehow, one judge viewed the fight 96-94 to Ryder. The other two had things more realistic, with 100-90 and 99-91 verdicts returned.
Choi sets up possible Harper and Mayer clashes
Hyun Mi Choi (18-0-1, 4 KOs) successfully defended her WBA Super Featherweight title on her Matchroom debut, with a clear points win against Calista Silgado.
The title could not be won by Silgado (19-12-3, 14 KOs) as she came in overweight, but the South Korean controlled the action in the main, and took a unanimous decision by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93 to move closer to possible unification fights against the likes of WBC and IBO champion, Terri Harper and WBO holder, Mikaela Mayer.
I’ll take Choi or Douche since Harper had to go and break her hand.
— Mikaela Mayer (@MikaelaMayer1) December 19, 2020
Gongora stuns Akhmedov with final round stoppage
The vacant IBO Super Middleweight title was claimed by Carlos Gongora (19-0, 14 KOs), who spectacularly knocked out Ali Akhmedov in the final round after a give and take thriller.
A tiring Akhmedov (16-0, 12 KOs) was caught by a crunching short uppercut that flattened him, and he couldn’t regain his feet, despite a ridiculously slow count from the referee giving him every chance
All three judges had Akhmedov ahead at the time of the conclusion.
At Welterweight, Reshat Mati (9-0, 7 KOs) remained unbeaten with a sixth and final round stoppage of Dennis Okoth (4-5-1, 2 KOs), while at Featherweight, Jalan Walker (7-0, 6 KOs) also remained undefeated, taken the distance for the first time, but winning all six rounds against Diuhl Olguin (14-16-4, 9 KOs).
