Grading the Big Drama Show (Golovkin's career under Abel Sánchez)

The partnership between Golovkin and Sánchez has reached 20 fights and counting.

When he reached "The Summit" in Big Bear, CA, GGG was 18-0 (15) and, in his late twenties, known only to diehard fans and insiders of the sport, looking to make his mark before time ran out. Since making that uphill trek of some ten-thousand kilometers, he is 19-0-1 (18) since their cooperative debut, which also happened to mark Golovkin's first world title bout, meaning that all twenty opponents (including Milton Núñez, who fought an interim match and wasn't an incumbent) have been ranked world title challengers. His longest contiguous run in twenty straight world title bouts has been with the WBA, making nineteen successful defenses. 17 have technically been unification bouts (depending on how much legitimacy with which you view the IBO), making 16 defenses of the IBO belt. 8 bouts have been billed as for the WBC title as well, but five of those were "interim"; with the belt fully unified as of the Brook fight.

Compare with some other boxer/coach tandems (where the fighter linked up with his trainer midway into their career) generally considered unmitigated successes:

Manny Pacquiao with Roach in his corner (Ledwaba through Horn) is 27-5-2 (15). Of 27, just 13 were world title bouts (Yeshmagambetov, Barrera I, Pirang/Battery, Morales I, Velasquez, Morales II, Larios, Morales III, Solis, Barrera II, De la Hoya, Márquez IV, Rios and Bradley II were not). Pacquiao's record in world title unification bouts (WBC/WBO/WBA welterweight versus Mayweather, and IBF/WBA featherweight in Márquez I) was 0-1-1.

Wladimir Klitschko with Emanuel Steward (Brewster I through Thompson II) in his corner went 16-1 (12). Of seventeen, just 14 were world title bouts (Castillo, Touch of Sleep, and Peter I were not). Wlad's entire contiguous reign under Steward, from the rematch with Byrd until the rematch with Thompson, comprised entirely of at least partial unification, claiming both the IBO and IBF simultaneously in Byrd II and defending both a dozen times. 9 also had the WBO heavyweight title at stake, and 3 incorporated the WBA.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. with uncle Mamba in his corner (Augustus through Cotto) was 20-0 (9). Of twenty, just 14 were world title bouts (Mosley, Márquez, Mitchell, Bruseles, Corley and Augustus were not). His longest contiguous reign under Roger was his tenure in possession of the WBC lightweight title, which he obtained in the most controversial fight of his life and defended thrice. Mayweather's unification record in this span is 2-0 or if you want to argue semantics 3-0, zero knockouts either way (IBF/IBO welterweight versus Judah, IBO/WBC versus Baldomir, and WBA/WBC "Diamond" middleweight versus Cotto, although the latter was a made up ad hoc trinket which no contest since has ever been sanctioned for. What is tricky about this one is that Mayweather had in fact claimed the WBC title at welterweight versus Ortiz and had not yet been officially stripped, but the "real" title wasn't on the line versus Cotto, just the honorary "Diamond" one...)

That's just kid stuff, though. Now let's roll up our sleeves and get to work...


Young Gennady, as mentioned in the introductory paragraph, was 18-0 (15) when he came into Sánchez's care. He was a brilliant and feared amateur decorated with every imaginable laurel, plenty of high-profile scalps, and had carried his rock-solid form into the pro game, making the most of the competition he was able to secure with incompetent management on the Eurasian circuit. He was a coiled snake, a methodical and dangerous puncher who exhibited a mastery of footwork and head movement, taking boxing's axiom of "hit and don't get hit" quite literally...rarely shipping any flush knuckle sandwiches on the inbound road while brutally accurate, powerful KO blows served as his chief export. However, as polished as he was, you'd be hard-pressed to call him perfect. He wasn't facing bums in these early days, by any means, but neither were they world beaters - and while he walked through more than a dozen of them like a hot knife through butter he did struggle on a few nights more than someone of his pedigree ought to have, with this caliber. Here's a little write-up I did a few years ago, which in the OP sketches out the highlights of his early run:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...he-record-straight-on-several-matters.532505/

In particular, his stoppage of Sergei Khomitsky stands out. That's a terrific result for such a "green" prospect (even with his extensive amateur background) and has only looked better as the years tick by. Not only did he stop the more experienced and extremely tough Belarusian, he steadily broke the Ghost down and probably didn't surrender a single point to him. The impressiveness of that result, however, is mitigated by the fact that a couple of his opponents from this same period that were on the same tier as Khomitsky or below managed to frustrate Gennady and even bag a few rounds off him, suggesting that his success in the ring was largely dependent on how favorable a stylistic match-up he received. To wit, both Ian Gardner and Mehdi Bouadla won, IMO, at least 2 if not 3 rounds against Young Gennady. Mind you, these were in 8-rounders, meaning he was a cunt-hair away from not deserving the nod outright in those encounters. (although he would've officially gotten the result in both even if you swung a round or two his opponents' way, as he was very much considered a star on the rise and probably the recipient of some "benefit of the doubt" from the judges. The panels turned in scorecards of 78-73 x2 & 77-74 vs. Gardner and 78-74 x2 and 79-75 vs. Bouadla respectively, but trust me, both contests were closer...and they're on YouTube if you want to check for yourself). The commonality between the slick & lanky Canadian southpaw Ian "The Cobra" Gardner and turtle-shelling, my-turn-now-your-turn high-volume mid-range specialist Algerian-Frenchman "the Braveheart" Mehdi Bouadla is that, while totally dissimilar to each other, they were also dissimilar to Khomitsky stylistically - and unlike virtually all the rest of Golovkin's first eighteen victims save Khomitsky, neither Gardner nor Bouadla were scared of at least attempting to hang with (and on the wings of a prayer, defeat) Golovkin. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Golovkin was given a gift on either occasion. He outpointed the Cobra fair & square, close-but-clear in a very ugly contest despite being made rather plainly uncomfortable with both the octopus imitation whenever he made a move inside and got snatched by those long tentacles, and the pesky left hand lead making a repetitive depression on his nose from the outside. He also managed to see himself through against Braveheart - despite being more than a little alarmed by someone giving him a taste of his own medicine and proving adept not only at everything he did well himself at that point in his development, but with some additional tricks up their sleeves beyond the wrinkles in his own game - on more or less sheer brute force & raw power alone, doling out the more damaging blows although he never managed to put the ornery gladiator down.

If you watch Young Gennady and compare him with GGG, you can map an empirical change in his style, an evolution spearheaded by Abel Sánchez encouraging him to play to his strengths and be more direct in his approach, with the goal in mind to break every opponent down and stop them...fully embracing the professional mentality and ditching the "score more points while minimizing risk" philosophy drilled into his mind (and to which his prosperous 345-5 mark was probably largely attributable to) in the amateurs. Was their synergy unequivocally socko from the get-go? Of course it wasn't. Their first collaboration, the grueling battle with Kassim Ouma, stands as maybe the single worst performance of Golovkin's entire boxing history (not just his pro career). That isn't entirely Sánchez's fault, true (Ouma dug way down and found the wherewithal to put in a vintage performance after many had written him off as "shot"; not to mention Golovkin was getting over a case of influenza when he stepped in the ring; this also was a pretty big step up for Golovkin, as despite it being his third world title bout the best opponent he ever had fought until then remained Khomitsky) - but it was a disaster and caused many to jump off the GGG bandwagon and/or portent that he and Sánchez were a horrible fit and doomed to split in short order.

Well...

[cont. in next post]

 

As it turns out, Golovkin has done nothing but improve under Sánchez, fleshing out his already multidimensional repertoire both offensively & defensively to morph from a nearly patient-to-a-fault counter-puncher who loaded up on precise KO shots but kept them sheathed until the moment felt "right", to his current incarnation as the giddy "Mexican in spirit" Kazakh good-boy-maker who never stops rolling toward his foes like a pedal-operated grain thresher and eschewing power & precision in favor of just chucking a ton of leather and having faith in his own heavy-handedness (and no longer worrying about return fire, although he does remain among the least-struck boxers in terms of his get hit to connects made ratio in the sport per Comp-U-Box, for a while trailing behind only Floyd Mayweather Jr.; also he still does employ world class head movement, it has just grown more subtle, both to use less of his energy and because of a gradual attitudinal shift, where if he gets touched, oh well...part of the cost of doing business...) - and while facing a steep incline of quality in his competition since he became a world titlist, until recently had a penchant for barely losing a round en route to his all-but-certain victory by stoppage each day @ the office. In between Ouma in 2011 and Brook more than five years later, you can literally count on a single hand the number of rounds where a 10-9 or better for Golovkin is so much as debatable - and you'll have fingers leftover.

The "peak" version of Golovkin after Sánchez began retooling him was probably a finished article by 2012, and lasted until he fought Kell Brook nearly 1½ years ago. Since then he is showing obvious signs of decline (it happens, fighters get old, and 4 years of world class form is actually pretty long as far as boxing "primes" go, anyone should be satisfied with that), and consequently losing a lot more rounds. Now some would argue that Álvarez, Jacobs and Brook represent the best three opponents he ever fought (which I think is probably true) and that he is losing more rounds because of that, implying that he was never as great as HBO and the like advertised or that he would have fared as poorly against this most recent trio if he fought them any time in his reign, with all three just having the right styles and level of class to "expose" him (on which point I'd disagree). Occam's razor says that, with all due respect to Canelo, Golden Child, and Special K - all three of them fine champions and excellent fighters - his deterioration is a product of senescence understandably taking its toll at last on a man that's been doing this for nearly three decades, putting his body through all the rigors of boxing training since before his testicles dropped.

Golovkin owes plenty to his previous coaches (Victor Dmitriev and Galim Kenzhabaev in the amateurs, followed by Magomed Schaburov in the first ⅓ of his pro campaign) and name-checks them frequently in Russian and Kazakh language interviews and documentaries, expressing gratitude for what each contributed to his knowledge base, and speaking highly of them as people as well. Nothing, however, rivals the chemistry or efficacy of the bond formed over the last eight years with the mustachioed, paunchy Mexican-American - who actually spend the preceding eight years away from the sport! Abel owes his return to prominence for the first time since training champions (Lupe Aquino, the Norris bros, etc) in the 1990's - with a current stable including the promising likes of Ryan Martin, Carlos Cuadras, Alex Saucedo, and pièce de résistance Murat Gassiev, whose place in the constellations might end up shining as bright as GGG's - almost entirely to Golovkin, putting them in each other's debt for their current lofty position atop the boxing world.

Following is a breakdown of every single RBR thread (or what passed for them, or were the closest thing, in the case of Núñez & Tapia) since Golovkin first held a world title aloft. Where applicable, scorecards are provided - mine & the official judges'. You can see that from Simon until Wade, the miserly duo Golovkin & Sánchez indeed barely gave up a point:

Golovkin vs. Núñez, 8/14/10:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/overlooked-fight-of-the-weekend-moreno-vs-cermano.246660/

(cards N/A, KO1)

Golovkin vs. Tapia, 12/16/10:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin-stops-tapia-in-3-hassan-ndam-is-next.276237/

(my card as of the stoppage: 20-18 Golovkin. Judges' cards: unknown, presumably 20-18 Golovkin x3)

Golovkin vs. Ouma, 7/17/11:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...a-anselmo-moreno-vs-lorenzo-parra-rbr.320645/

(my card as of the stoppage: 87-84 Ouma. Judges' cards: 87-84, 86-85, 86-85 all for Golovkin - scores I disagree with, vehemently in the case of Ricardo Duncan's)

Golovkin vs. Simon, 12/9/11:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin-vs-lajuan-simon-rbr.365982/

(cards N/A, KO1)

Golovkin vs. Fuchigami, 5/12/12:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...aurbek-baysangurov-vs-michel-soro-rbr.401018/

(my card as of the stoppage: 19-18 Golovkin, having given Fuchigami the first and then Golovkin scoring his first knockdown in the second. Judges' cards: unknown, presumably either 19-18 Golovkin or 19-18 Fuchigami, given the presence of a knockdown in the second making for a mandatory 10-8 score)

Golovkin vs. Proksa, 9/1/12:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...iy-dzinziruk-vs-jonathan-gonzalez-rbr.427186/

(my card as of the stoppage: 40-34 GGG, knockdowns scored in the 1st and 4th. Judges' cards: 40-34 x3 Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Rosado, 1/9/13:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...ovkin-vs-gabriel-rosado-undercard-rbr.455422/

(my card as of the stoppage: 60-54 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 60-54 x2, 59-55 all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Ishida, 3/30/13:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin-vs-nobuhiro-ishida-rbr.467952/

(my card as of the stoppage: 20-18 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 20-18 x3, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Macklin, 6/29/13:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin-vs-matthew-macklin-rbr.482778/

(my card as of the stoppage: 20-18 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 20-18 x3, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Stevens, 11/2/13:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...agomed-abdusallamov-vs-mike-perez-rbr.491763/

(my card as of the stoppage: 80-71 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 79-71, 80-71, 79-72, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Adama, 2/1/14:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin-vs-osumanu-adama-rbr.498620/

(my card as of the stoppage: 60-52 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 60-52 and 59-53 x2, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Geale, 7/26/14:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...ale-bryant-jennings-vs-mike-perez-rbr.513487/

(my card as of the stoppage: 20-17 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 20-17 x3, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Rubio, 10/18/14:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin-vs-marco-antonio-rubio-rbr.519985/

(my card as of the stoppage: 10-9 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 10-9 x3, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Murray, 2/21/15:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...-hekkie-budler-vs-jesus-silvestre-rbr.529567/

(my card as of the stoppage: 100-86 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 99-88 x2 and 100-87, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Monroe Jr., 5/16/15:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...e-jr-román-gonzález-vs-Édgar-sosa-rbr.538556/

(my card as of the stoppage: 49-44 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 50-43 x2 and 49-44, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Lemieux, 10/17/15:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...x-román-gonzález-vs-brian-viloria-rbr.550391/

(my card as of the stoppage: 70-62 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 70-62 x3, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Wade, 4/23/16:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...man-gonzalez-vs-mcwilliams-arroyo-rbr.564139/

(my card as of the stoppage: 10-8 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 10-8 x3, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Brook, 9/10/16:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...-roman-gonzalez-vs-carlos-cuadras-rbr.573102/

(my card as of the stoppage: 39-37 Brook. Judges' cards: 38-38 x2 and 39-37 Brook)

Golovkin vs. Jacobs, 3/8/17:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...román-gonzález-vs-wisaksil-wangek-rbr.583585/

(my card: 114-113 Jacobs. Judges' cards: 115-112 x2 and 114-113, all for Golovkin)

Golovkin vs. Álvarez, 9/16/17
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...ndy-caballero-vs-diego-de-la-hoya-rbr.593687/
+
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...saúl-Álvarez-at-last-ibs-official-rbr.599949/

(my card: 115-113 Golovkin. Judges' cards: 118-110 Álvarez , 115-113 Golovkin, 114-114)

**further extrapolation in subsequent post**

I think at the end of the day, you compulsorily have to grade this partnership in the A range, just looking at the results it yielded. Whether that is minus, straight or plus I guess will depend on how much you think Abel enhanced Golovkin's preexisting abilities to propel him into the p4p rankings and his curious mainstream appeal in the international and specifically American media - or how much you think he shaved years off his ward's prime by allowing him to absorb more collateral punches in a calculated sacrifice to make himself more exciting & marketable.

 

** Now getting even nerdier and going further down the rabbit hole:

My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 20 Tapia 18
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 85.75 Ouma 85.25
My scores & official judges' averaged out: let's say for the sake of argument Golovkin 19 Fuchigami 18
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 40 Proksa 30
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 59.75 Rosado 54.25
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 20 Ishida 18
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 20 Macklin 18
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 79.5 Stevens 71.25
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 59.75 Adama 52.25
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 20 Geale 17
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 10 Rubio 9
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 99.5 Murray 87.25
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 49.5 Monroe Jr. 43.5
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 70 Lemieux 62
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 10 Wade 8
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 37.25 Brook 38.5
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 114.25 Jacobs 112.75
My scores & official judges' averaged out: Golovkin 113.5 Álvarez 114.5 (thanks a lot, Adelaie Byrd...)

That leaves Golovkin with 922.75 points in his column, average of 51.25 points-per-fight - versus 857.5 for his opposition, averaging 47.65 points-per-fight. In other words, Golovkin has a net plus-minus differential of +3.6 points over his opponents, and that's with only a few of those going the distance. Without any data to look at, just offhand I'm going to hazard a guess that is a pretty good differential even by world championship standards.

To reduce all that into the sub-molecular for ultimate clarity:

Against eighteen opponents faced w/ Sánchez as his chief second (barring Núñez & Simon; N/A since they were KO1 blitzes) there have been 95 completed rounds to be scored, with 5.28 rounds completed per contest. Golovkin's average score per round is therefore 9.706 points; his opponents' is 9.025 points.

That's a pretty winning percentage. He's well beyond the halfway mark toward averaging 10 points a round, while his opposition sits at damn near a flat 9.

 

You'll note that Young Gennady had one more decision victory which I neglected to mention - over Amar Amari, another Algerian-Frenchman but nowhere near Bouadla's equal. That was a two card shutout (dissenting judge still had it super wide for Golovkin, 79-72), close enough to a shutout across the board.

Amari aside, all of Golovkin's contests to not end in a stoppage have been very close (per the aggregated mean consensus of expert observers) - a pair of them, Gardner & Bouadla, in his pre-prime days before he met Abel, and the next pair, Jacobs & Álvarez, in 2017 as the greys start to subtly creep into his signature Alfred E. Neuman shaggy mop.

 

So aside from half a dozen opponents (Jacobs, Canelo, Brook, Ouma, Gardner and Bouadla) - notwithstanding one flukey pity round on a single judge's card here and there ie versus Amari, Golovkin has barely ever lost a round in thirty-odd pro bouts, both with & without Abel.

Of those aforementioned half a dozen bouts, though, he arguably lost as many as 26 rounds (three each to Gardner/Bouadla; two to Brook, seven to Jacobs, five to Canelo and six to Ouma) of 53 completed - nearly exactly half!!! Again, some with & some without Abel.

 

Oh and check out this little gem of a time capsule; a pre-Summit thread I made on GGG nearly a full decade - 9½ years - ago, when you had to be SUPER nerdy to even know his name (at least in the US):

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/gennady-golovkin.71760/

 

Good call, decade-ago IB. You walk that plank and go out confidently on that limb declaring that you'd pick Golovkin over the (as of then) bigger name Duddy, and you don't care what anybody thinks of it!

 

Note that even people that had seen him and expressed optimism about him in those days cautioned that we all saw lots of flaws yet to be ironed out in Young Gennady.

By the middle of his longstanding televised run on HBO, when he became a household name among even the most casual fans, you hardly ever heard anyone critiquing GGG too harshly or nitpicking any exploitable weaknesses. Creditable to Sánchez?

 

@Willie Maeket that is dead ass fascinating that you voted to grade the relationship A+ in the poll and yet don't consider Abel to have been all that impactful on Golovkin's in-ring performance or tactical approach? Purely for his role as "hype man" and unofficial manager?

 

Why do I keep thinking people are going to care about this degree of breakdown?