Golovkin retains title with 2nd-round KO
CARSON, Calif. — Gennady Golovkin said his second-round knockout of Vanes Martirosyan wasn’t intended to send a message to Canelo Alvarez.
Instead, it was the lastminute replacement for Alvarez who verbally tagged the Mexican superstar on Cinco de Mayo.
“I see why he’s eating that kind of meat. I see why he’s trying to get that extra edge,” said Mar- tirosyan, referencing Al- varez’s failed drug test in March.
Golovkin won his 20th consecutive middleweight title defense by sending Martirosyan down at 1:53 of the second round on Saturday night.
Showing he has not lost any of his devastating power after his previous two fights ended in decisions, Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) tied Bernard Hopkins’ record for middleweight title defenses with staggering fury.
After being tagged with a strong three-punch combination from Martirosyan (36-4-1) late in the first round, Golovkin responded with a devastating charge in the second. He started the eightpunch onslaught with a short left and pounced on the damaged Martirosyan, finally dropping him with two powerful lefts.
Martirosyan compared the sequence to being hit by a truck immediately after the fight, then likened Golovkin’s punches to being hit by a train in the press conference.
“Every punch was the same power and that surprised me,” Martirosyan said. “Thirty-six years old, and he’s still fighting like that. He is the real deal.”
The fight came together in hectic fashion after Golovkin’s rematch with Alavarez fell apart. Golovkin and Alvarez fought to a draw last September and were set to meet again in Las Vegas on the Mexican holiday before Alvarez was suspended for six months by the Nevada Athletic Commission in April after testing positive
The card also featured the first women’s fight on HBO in the cable network’s 45-year history of broadcasting boxing as undisputed welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus (33-0) remained undefeated with a unanimous decision over Kali Reis (13-7-1). for clenbuterol.