Gennadiy Golovkin's 5 best fights

Gennadiy Golovkin manages to deliver a "Big Drama Show" every time he steps into the ring, regardless of who he's fighting.

GGG gets another chance to do what he does best as he faces long-time rival Canelo Alvarez on Saturday for the undisputed super middleweight championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas live on DAZN PPV in the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand as well as around the world on DAZN (except Mexico, Kazakhstan and Latin America; check your region for availability).

Alvarez and Golovkin will return to the scene of their previous two epic battles. The first fight ​​in September 2017 ended in a split draw, with the consensus being that Golovkin had done more than enough to earn the victory. The rematch occurred one year later, ​in September 2018, with Alvarez leaving victorious via majority decision. 

Meanwhile, Golovkin fought in April, traveling to Japan, and beat Ryoto Murata by ninth-round TKO to add the WBA (super) middleweight title to his IBF belt. So now, GGG gets a chance to avenge two fights that he feels should have gone his way. 

Ahead of Saturday's trilogy clash, DAZN takes a look at Golovkin's (42-1-1, 37 KOs) five best fights.

 

Controversial draw vs. Canelo, Sept. 16, 2017

There’s no way around it. In the biggest fight of his career, Golovkin flat out got the better of Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. CompuBox numbers showed as much, with GGG outlanding Canelo 218-169 punches, including landing more shots in 10 of the 12 rounds. It should have been a clear-cut victory for the Kazakh bruiser. Instead, judge Adalaide Byrd’s inexplicable scorecard of 118-110 in favor of Canelo paved the way for a controversial split draw in what remains a very bitter pill to swallow for Golovkin.

Edged by Canelo in rematch, Sept. 15, 2018

Having built up plenty of vitriol for the rematch back at T-Mobile Arena, Alvarez hit the opening bell with a different strategy. The second fight had him showing a willingness to walk down the forward-fighting Golovkin and fight fire with fire in many sequences throughout this war. A lot closer than their initial meeting, Canelo earned the majority decision. Many boxing pundits believed that GGG did enough to get the nod behind more punches landed once again, but Canelo landed more power punches in this one and arguably stuck the cleaner, sharper shots in this one. Still, it could have gone the other way. GGG left Vegas once again with a whole different meaning of “Sin City,” believing he was robbed twice. On the flip side, you know that you're a Hall of Fame-lock fighter when a controversial draw and loss remain part of your best work.

Pummeling Kell Brook to TKO, Sept. 10 2016

Not only was Kell Brook undefeated at the time with a pristine 36-0 record, including 25 KOs, but Golovkin was fighting in his opponent's backyard at the O2 Arena in London. GGG answered the challenge by doing what he does best, delivering a thorough beating. Brook hung tough with Golovkin over the first couple of rounds, before GGG began battering Brook to the point that the Brit’s corner threw in the towel to protect his damaged right eye. GGG was awarded with a dominant fifth-round TKO. Brutal stuff.

Earning hard-fought win over Daniel Jacobs, March 18, 2017

Facing another consummate pro in Daniel Jacobs, GGG turned in another unrelenting performance and picked up a hard-fought unanimous decision victory. The match going the distance snapped Golovkin's 23-fight KO streak, and Jacobs has support in maintaining to this day that he should have had his hand raised that night at Madison Square Garden. Judges didn't see it that way, though, as GGG left New York City with his unified WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and IBO titles in tow.

GGG regains IBF belt in a fight of the year candidate, Oct. 17, 2015

Sergiy Derevyanchenko gave GGG all he could handle before judges scored it a unanimous decision (115-112, 115-112, 114-113) in favor of Golovkin, who was crowned the new IBF world middleweight champion with anything but an easy path to the title.

Golovkin dropped Derevyanchenko with a right on top of the head during the first round. In the second, Derevyanchenko suffered a nasty gash over his right eye that appeared to be the result of a GGG left hook, but was ruled to be from an accidental headbutt. But instead of Derevyanchenko reeling, he began digging into GGG and back into the fight the hard way with a gutsy performance.

Using his busy motor and a high volume of punches, Derevyanchenko took it to Golovkin on the inside and even had the Kazakh warrior hurt at times over the duration of the bout. During the 10th round, Derevyanchenko unloaded on GGG, using every punch in his arsenal to hurt Golovkin, who even grabbed and held onto the Ukrainian to avoid suffering more damage. As Derevyanchenko took the fight to Golovkin, there were moments that GGG either delivered with enough power punches to take the round or looked every bit of 37 years old, with "Father Time" breathing down his head and neck.

While it was far from the "Big Drama Show" that GGG was expecting to produce, it was enough for Golovkin to escape MSG as a two-time world middleweight champion.