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Should Gennady Golovkin Consider Retirement?

Last weekend we saw a pretty conclusive victory for Saul Alvarez when he took a points win over Gennady Golovkin in what will likely be their third and final fight in a trilogy. Scores of 116-112, 115-113, 115-113   seemed to prove who finally was the better man after their first  fight turned out a draw. While the sky is the limit for Alvarez, there is no doubt that Golovkin will go back and reassess what he wants to do in boxing. The good news is that he still holds the IBF, WBA and IBO middleweight crowns and a move back down to the middleweight division is probable.

The reason that some fans think the Kazakhstan boxer should walk away now is because he looked less than stellar before last weekend’s fight. Claims that he looks more hittable and slower than usual do have some validity to them. Signs of decline have been evident since 2017, just after “Canelo” and “GGG” fought for the second time, once again at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Unflattering wins over the likes of Steve Rolls and Ryota Murata did little to impress. Potential reasons for the decline has included theories such as a switch in trainers after Johnathon Banks came on board to tutor Golovkin. Banks once said that he was planning to suggest that Golovkin think about his work a little more as well as increase his work rate. Could Gennady’s slowing down be because he was thinking more about what he was doing? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s hard to tell.

There are still some good pay days left for Golovkin if and when he goes back to middleweight. Jermall Charlo and Jaime Munguia still could potentially make for entertaining fights. Especially Munguia, who often loves to look for the knockout and throws quite a lot of punches. But it’s also fair to say that Gennady probably does not have that long left fighting in the ring, so he will likely have to look for the most money making matches right away. At now 40 years of age, his physical decline will only get worse from here on. Time is not on his side and he will have to get a move on if he wants to cash out with a decent amount of money.

So, should Gennady Golovkin retire?

Well, why should he?

A lot of us will agree that Saul Alvarez is just that something special a fighter that only comes around a couple of times in a generation. And Golovkin was still knocking out challengers to his crowns before their last fight. Even if he didn’t look as normally well when he  beat them. When it gets to the point where it becomes really difficult to beat ordinary opposition, should he then only think about walking away. Until then, he still has enough to entertain the fans and participate in a  couple of more big fights.

The end may be near. But it should still be fun while it lasts.

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