LAS VEGAS–Gennadiy Golovkin was smiling. And why shouldn’t he? More than three years after he last shared the ring with Canelo Alvarez, Golovkin, months removed from turning 40, was finally getting another shot. Moments after the obligatory stare-down that punctuated Tuesday’s grand arrivals, Golovkin broke out into a toothy grin.
“I stopped hoping [the fight would happen] at some point,” Golovkin said. “I’m happy it is.”
It has been 10 years since Golovkin burst onto the U.S. boxing scene, turning a small casino in upstate New York—and the HBO cameras that traveled there—into a stage to introduce himself. He knocked out Grzegorz Proksa that night. Gabriel Rosado, Matthew Macklin and David Lemieux were among the dozen others he stopped right after. He became a compelling attraction, drawing in fans with brutalizing power, endearing himself to them with broken English that yielded quirky catchphrases like "good boy" and "big drama show."
