Based on the last four fights I could find compubox stats for: (Macklin, Ishida, Rosado, Proksa) He lands at an average of 44.25% his opponents land at 21% The plus/minus is 23.25% in favor of Golovkin. This spread is second only to Mayweather who leads the sport at 24%! For reference, Ward has a plus 14%, Rigo has a plus 13% average, Hopkins has a plus 4% Yes, Golovkin has one of the best defenses in the sport, and also one of the best offenses.
Ward fought Kessler and Froch among other elite SMWs. Rigondeaux fought Donaire. Gennady has yet to fight a top shelf fighter, let alone a top fighter in his very own division. I like Gennadiy, but lets be honest here, his opposition hasn't been the sturdiest.. and can't yet compare to guys like Ward and Mayweather.
Those are excellent points, but I'm not saying he has fought the best contenders out there, I'm saying he has punch stats that only Floyd can rival. That is impressive given all the other champs/boxers out there.
Its hardly his defense that has opponents landing at a low percentage, the fights you mentioned all of those guys were in survival mode after the first round, its hard to land punches when you're fighting scared and you're solely focused on defense, when I watch Golovkin fight I hardly see a defensive master, what I see is an offensive fighter who's power serves as his defense...he's really not hard to hit...
When Gennadiy makes a p4p boxer like Donaire look like absolutely nothing, then we can talk. I don't care for stats, which are for the most part bogus anyways. I know what I saw Rigo do to Donaire, I saw what Ward did to fellow elite SMWs like Froch and Kessler, and I've seen what Mayweather has done to top shelf fighters time and again. Gennadiy has just blown out some blown up LMWs, and I like Gennadiy.. I'm a big fan of his. But lets be real, statisticis are more often than not complete horse ****.
Defense is defense, how you achieve it doesn't matter. Mayweather's defense is actually his offense, just look at how everyone clams up after taking a few counters. Golovkin puts people in a bad position to throw, even when they can throw, they have nothing on their punches because they can't set their feet or leave themselves open for the big ones coming in. Golovkin's defense is harder to see because he isn't back pedaling, dodging or grabbing, - but it is certainly there, and people are missing.
Kessler and Froch aren't that much better than Macklin to be honest. And when Gennady destroys a top P4P boxer, then the discussion is over, we will all KNOW GGG is the best, but for now we can just speculate until somebody with top talent takes a fight with him.
Most people don't throw many punches when they are running for their lives, doesn't make you a great defensive fighter.
When he actually fights an top shelf middleweight we will see how good this supposed defense is, like I said he's actually not hard to hit, Mayweather however is hard to hit, GGG is not and never will be remembered for defense...but he's still a very good fighter...
Defense just means not getting hit, how you accomplish that doesn't really matter. Besides, this is about the low connect rate on Golovkin, not the amount of punches thrown at him. When people throw at him, they don't connect, aka his defense is good, he is hard to hit etc.