Rising star Golovkin knocks out Macklin via liver punch

Gennady Golovkin continued his undefeated run with a third round knockout against Matthew Macklin, Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) at MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort.

 

Golovkin, a Kazakh who now resides in Germany, landed a picture-perfect left hook to the body that dropped his opponent. Macklin folded after the punch was landed and he stayed on the canvas long after referee Eddie Cotton ended his ten count. The official time of stoppage was at 1:22 of the third round.

 

With the win, Golovkin defended his IBO and WBA middleweight titles. He also remained undefeated, winning all of his 27 fights with an impressive 24 knockouts under his name.

 

Macklin engaged Golovkin in an exciting match from the very start. Even if Golovkin had an astounding 88 percent knockout percentage, Macklin fought him toe-to-toe in the first two rounds, even landing a few big right straights of his own. His corner instructed the challenger to keep moving towards his right to make it harder for Golovkin to land his vaunted rights. However, this set Macklin up perfectly for Golovkin’s left hook.

 

In the third round, Golovkin caught Macklin on the ropes. He landed left and right uppercuts which ever so slightly made Macklin adjust his defense. When Macklin’s body opened up, Golovkin landed a devastating left hook, which is often called the liver punch in boxing parlance, to end the fight.

 

Macklin’s record fell to 29 wins against five losses. - CLP, GMA News