Golovkin makes his American Debut 7 years ago
Back on September 1, 2012, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin stepped into the ring for the first time on American soil and was an absolute force to be reckoned with at middleweight against Grezegorz Proska.
The event at the time was held at the infamous Turning Stone and Casino in Verona, New York and aired on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark.” Golovkin opened an eye to everyone in the states which had until that point seen him with clips off Youtube knocking down fighters in contests out of Europe.
Promotional Poster for Golovkin and Proksa
Golovkin at the time was 30 years old and was undefeated (23-0-20 KOs) and was also the WBA Regular and IBO middleweight champion. Proska was a Top 10 contender and had a record of 28-1 with 21 knockouts. Proska was supposed to against Golovkin cause him some problems.
What transpired once the bell rang instead was an outright boxing clinic as Golovkin preceded to batter around Proska for five rounds.
The first stanza had Proska try to apply pressure on Golovkin as he was game from the onset. Golovkin late in the round caught Proska with a combination on the ropes started by a left hook late in the round which sent him down. On the broadcast called by blow by blow man Bob Papa, it was the first time Proska was knocked down in both his amateur or professional career.
Unfortunately for Proska, it would not be his last in this contest.
During the match, Proska kept pressing and weaving into Golovkin’s shots throughout the contest. It also led to him being sent to the canvas by Golovkin with another left in the fourth round. While Proska beat the standing eight count, Golovkin continued to break down Proska with hard body shots that hurt him and also kept him off balance.
The fifth and final round of this match had Golovkin pound Proska with a right hand that had him badly hurt had was knocked down and fell face first. Proska showed tremendous heart getting up and beating the ten count, but referee Charlie Fitch had seen enough and called it off at 1:11 of the fifth round. This stoppage gave Golovkin the win by technical knockout over a very game Proska.
Golovkin was very simple after the victory of Proska.
“Not an easy fight for me,” Golovkin said.
Still hard to believe that and if you haven’t seen the Kazakhstan fighter US debut, watch below and see if it was as hard as Golovkin claims it was.
