Ouma was tough and talented. He had a few losses going into the Golovkin fight but he was tough. Note what happened to Ouma's record following his fight with Golovkin. This is what happened to so many fighters before and after Golokin. He broke them. GGG took more punishment in this fight than in any other, but he prevailed and broke yet another fighter. https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/19911 This content is protected
That was kind of a strange fight. Ouma at the time could still fight at world level and i thought he did enough to beat prime Martirosyan. Years back he had Jermaine Taylor on his bicycle, fighting in bursts because Ouma would out box and out slug him on the inside and was so durable and awkward. I think Ouma was at his best vs Golovkin and turned back the clock for that fight while GGG was jet lagged. That being said GGG just stood in there toe to toe with this crazy tough Ouma, fighting Ouma right in his wheelhouse finally braking him down, finally making the teak tuff Ouma cave in, in brutal fashion. What a crazy fight. I don't think Ouma was ever the same and took 2 year off after that fight. Golovkin was the first to stop Ouma outside of a early career stoppage.
They failed to mention that Ouma was a former world champ that had many title defenses and beat Multiple contenders at 154lbs. I heard someone say that GGG had some sort of plane delay or something, that they were so late GGG didn't even have time to shave, hence the little mustache and beard. All credit to Ouma who gave GGG a hell of a test that was probably very valuable. Kind makes you wonder how a Lara fight would have went. I think GGG would have gotten Lara out in similar fashion.
Golovkin was in bad shape for the Ouma fight. IIRC not only was he suffering a cold but had been stuck in an airport for a day. IMHO his hardest fight was Derevyanchenko. Canelo was tough too but didn't take as many chances as Sergei who really went after GGG.
Ouma was already on a very significant slide before he fought Golovkin. I'm pretty sure he had lost 6 fights in a row. Golovkin definitely didn't break him. I will say you are right, Ouma was one of his toughest wins as even after Golovkin and he was officially just a name guy to put on your resume, most guys weren't stopping Ouma. Would've loved to see the Ouma that was drowning Candelo, Boroquez and Verno Phillips in with Golovkin.The bad thing about Ouma is that his style was not the style for a lasting, evolving career.
I would say it was prime Canelo in the 3rd fight but the ouma fight was tough too. Beside the vegas judges this is also a good call
It was a slugfest, but I couldn’t help but feel it was only matter of time with Ouma just standing and trading with him the whole time.