Gennady Golovkin retained his WBC and WBA world middleweight titles in style to keep his unblemished record intact with a sixth-round technical knockout of Willie Monroe on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Kazakh, who is fast building a reputation as one of boxing’s most explosive and exciting fighters, knocked Monroe down three times in the bout before the referee stopped it 45 seconds into the sixth at The Forum in Los Angeles.
Golovkin improved to 33-0 and victory marked the 30th knockout in an impressive career that has seen him run roughshod over boxing’s middleweight division. Golovkin cracked Monroe with a right hand and dropped him in the second round.
Photo: AFP
Then moments later, Golovkin hit Monroe again with a sharp left for a second knockdown.
Monroe (now 19-2, 6 KOs) proved to be a willing combatant despite being hopelessly outmatched.
He tagged the champ with a combination of punches in the fourth that caused Golovkin to ask for more, but Monroe could not sustain any sort of consistent attack.
Golovkin came out looking for blood in the sixth.
He popped Monroe again with a right uppercut and then backed the American into the ropes before dropping him for a third and final time.
Golovkin said after the fight that he wants to face Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez next.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but