Golovkin would have caught up with Martinez and stopped him sooner or later. Keeping your hands low against Golovkin is a recipe for disaster. It would likely be similar to the proksa fight, although Proksa is not as good as Martinez. Look at Macklin vs Martinez, then compare that with Macklin vs Golovkin. You can do the same with Martinez vs Murray and compare it to Golovkins win over Murray. Macklin and Murray both gave Sturm hell as well, yet GGG made easy work of them. Golovkin was on another level than Martinez and Sturm. I like Martinez, but i would have loved to have seen GGG add Martinez to his Good boy highlight reel collection!
Golovkin in my opinion and I don't think you will find too many people that think Martinez could win. GGG went to the body well and was able to force the pace via distance control. I think Sergio might start out well but would start to slow after the first few rounds. I fancy Golovkin against any fighter that is not technically sound like Martinez was not.
GGG but it wouldn't be easy. Martinez has the skills and movement that would give GGG fits, the only question is if Martinez could maintain his pace for 12 rounds because as we all know GGG gets better as the fight goes on. Would have been a great fight though.
Golovkin would have beaten up Maravilla and I say this as someone who really likes Martinez but Golovkin would time those herky-jerky movements of his and punish him for it. GGG is also an underrated southpaw-killer, he never really struggled against southpaws and always managed to win the foot position battle and to set up his thudding straight right and murderous left hook.
Martinez would make him look bad for a few rounds, until GGG finds his range and begins to break Martinez down. By 8/9, Martinez is probably stopped.
Golovkin breaks him down and stops him. Closes off the ring with relatively not much issue, forces Martinez to either tuck up, where Golovkin can then find the body shots and uppercuts, or to force him to start slipping and rolling, where he will still go to the body and time his head movement, which Golovkin was great at doing when he had opponents against the ropes, step around to his left as Martinez tries to escape the ropes, and smash him with a right.
I love Martinez, one of my favorites... but G was wrong for him, imo. Golovkin would maybe lose a couple rounds as he adjusts to Martinez's distance, movement and speed but he would eventually start closing the distance and upping the pressure, eventually overwhelming Martinez in the later rounds for an impressive stoppage around the 10th. I think for the most part Golovkin is a bit much for the smaller middleweights (former welterweights and former jr middleweights) to deal with.
That would have been a middleweight classic! I think it would have been back and forth but ultimately Golovkins superior chin and power and toughness would have prevailed. GGG late stoppage 10-12 in a FOTY type fight!
Golovkin closes the ring of consistently and does damage consistently, hands low trying to avoid combinations when you’re on the ropes is a deathwish against Golovkin, he can time your head movement and go to the body.
Interesting contrast of styles. Martinez had great footwork, speed and very good timing, he was a hard to decipher southpaw. I think that after the first half of the fight the Argentine would have been ahead on points but the pressure, power and excellent ability to cut the ring of GGG would have been decisive. I say GGG inside the distance when he was ahead on points.
