At the Sheraton Los Angeles Hotel at LAX in Los Angeles, California, Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33KO’s) made weight coming in at 160lbs even and Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21KO’s) made weight coming in at 159.8lbs.
The fight is tomorrow on Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, at the StubHub Center in Carson California, and GGG will be defending his World Boxing Association (WBA) Super World Middleweight Championship. This will be Golovkins 20th defense as WBA Champion – dating all the way back to 2010. He is hoping to tie the division record of title defenses that is held by Bernard Hopkins.
Golovkin is coming into this fight as about a 30/1 favorite on the betting lines, as Martirosyan is stepping in on late notice for the infamous departure of Saul Canelo Alvarez from the fight. Golovkin is, by all means, expected to put on a show as he comes into the fight off of a split draw to Canelo and unanimous decision victory over Daniel Jacobs in 2017.
Martirosyan is coming into the fight off a career-long two year layoff, having lost to Erislandy Lara by unanimous decision in May of 2016. Martirosyan has a record of only 3-3 in his last six fights; the three losses being via decision to top fighters and world champions.
Martirosyan is also making his debut at middleweight after having fought his entire career at the super welterweight limit. On short notice, after a two year layoff, this has to basically be expected however with the main question being how good of conditioning and how sharp his punches can be on fight night.
Not many people are expecting this fight to go many rounds, let alone last the distance, but Martirosyan has shown to be a very cagey veteran in the past since he has never been stopped or seriously in trouble of being stopped in his 40 fight career. Martirosyan tends to play spoiler a bit, with his opponents not looking great even if they get the decisive victory.
Suffice to say this is a ”stay busy” fight for Golovkin but nonetheless many fans are simply excited to the WBA Super Champion climbing into the ring instead of being forced to inactivity from the withdrawal of Canelo Alvarez.
The co-feature bout is another history making fight between Cecelia Braekhus (32-0, 9KO’s) and Kali Reis (13-6-1, 4KO’s). Braekhus will be defending her World Boxing Association (WBA) World Female Welterweight Title for a record 22nd title defense. It will be the first time that a female bout has been broadcast on HBO, as it takes the co-feature slot on the premium network broadcast.
