Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs), the knockout artist from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, made history by successfully defending the  middleweight title for the 21st time, passing legendary Bernard Hopkins, with whom he shared the record.

 

Triple G’s opponent was formerly undefeated Kamil Szeremeta (21-1, 5 KOs), his IBF mandatory from Bialystok, Poland. His durability, chin, and fighting heart kept him in the fight for seven rounds, despite suffering four knockdowns, but he failed to win a round, or even a minute of any round against a fighter superior in every respect.

 

Fighting out of the blue corner in purple trunks with gold trim, Golovkin resembled the Golovkin of old. Equally composed and deadly, he established his jab in the opening round and added a dazzling array of punches that seemingly could not miss as the rounds progressed. A left hook dropped Szeremeta in the first. An overhand right to the ear put him down in the second. Another left hook in the fourth dropped him to the canvas a third time, followed by knockdown caused by one of Golovkin’s power jabs in round seven.

 

Szeremeta, fighting out of the red corner in red and white trunks, was never in the fight. There was little give and take in the bout, inasmuch as Triple G did all the giving and Szeremeta did all the taking. The Polish pugilist started busting up early and was bleeding from the nose by round four. But there was no quit in the challenger, despite eating endless punches, despite lacking the skills and, more important, the power to keep Golovkin at bay.

 

According to CompuBox, Triple G landed 228 of 554 total punches thrown (41%) to 59 of 327 (18%) for Szeremeta. Golovkin landed 134 of 237 (56%) power punches to Szeremeta’s 49 of 135 (36%). The jabs might be considered an afterthought, if only the numbers didn’t say otherwise. Golovkin, who could have thrown devastating shots all night long, connected with 94 of 317 (30%) of the jabs he threw, whereas Szeremeta only landed 10 of 192 jabs (5%), all of which suggests the bout was a mismatch.

 

But it was good to see Golovkin in action after a 440-day layoff, even in a one-sided fight where he was so dominant.

 

“He’s great boxer,” said Triple G about the evening’s opponent. “I feel very comfortable. I had a good time. I respect Kamil’s trainer. I respect Kamil’s corner.”

 

Despite DAZN’s talking heads mentioning Canelo more often than they said “and” and “the,” Golovkin was cagey when about future fights.

 

“I’m open for anybody,” he said. “Trust me, guys. We’ll  bring the best fight for next time.”