WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin scores sensational KO over Nobuhiro Ishida

Thirty-year-old Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan successfully retained his IBO and WBA Middleweight Championships in Monaco on March 30 with a sensational third-round knockout over Nobuhiro Ishida of Japan. Golovkin, known for his power, caught his challenger with a tremendous right hand to the head and sent him crashing to the canvas. When he hit the deck referee Stanley Christodoulou called the contest over without starting a count. The official time of the stoppage was 1:13 of the third round.

Golovkin was in complete control right from the opening bell as he put the pressure on the veteran Ishida with stiff, accurate left jabs and some solid right hands. Golovkin has impressed boxing fans and promoters greatly over the past year with his powerful pinpoint punching and desire to fight every month or two.

However, he hasn’t fought a truly elite boxer up to now. This could all change in the near future though as he may soon meet one of the divisions other champions. These include WBC boss Sergio Martinez of Argentina, WBO champ Peter Quillin of America and IBF titleholder Daniel Geale of Australia.

The knockout saw Golovkin raise his unbeaten record to 26-0 with 23 Kos. He has the highest knockout ratio of any middleweight champion in boxing history. The 37-year-old Ishida fell to 24-9-2 with 9 Kos and will now likely retire from the sport. Ishida was hurt as early as the second round then Golovkin opened a cut under his right eye with a splendid three-punch combination, but he showed a lot of heart by trying to fight back. It was the first time Ishida had been stopped as a pro in 35 bouts.