Golovkin vs Derevyanchenko: Why you should watch fight live as Canelo Alvarez payday awaits winner

The Kazakh hopes to remain on course for a trilogy fight against the Mexican superstar

The Autumn series of boxing begins with a mouth-watering clash tonight as Gennady Golovkin and Sergiy Derevyanchenko battle for middleweight glory in New York City.

Five years ago, the idea of two Eastern-European boxers headlining Madison Square Garden would have been unthinkable, but the sport is changing for the better as fans become less partisan and more interested in wanting the best fights to happen in their area regardless of nationality.

While the IBF middleweight title is on the line this evening, the championship belt will play a mere supporting act to the drama in the ring. Trinkets are nice, but there is a chance that the loser will never again engage in a bout of this magnitude again. At 37, Golovkin’s athletic prime is behind him, while Derevyanchenko is firmly aware that defeat may end his top-tier status with immediate effect.

Gennady Golovkin is perhaps the most wonderful success story of the last decade in boxing, and one of the most unexpected too. While the Kazakh fighter had a fine amateur record including World Championship and Olympic medals, little attention was paid when he turned professional in May 2006. Several years later, a long undefeated streak moved him to America, and the legend began to emerge.

A smiling, affable persona was uniquely teamed with one of the most destructive styles boxing has ever seen. Relentless, powerful, invincible - Golovkin smashed simple adjectives into the indescribable. A slew of opponents attempted to tame the beast, but none came close as Golovkin’s range of punches and unparalleled confidence saw him turn respectable world level opposition into harmless punch bags.

Only Danny Jacobs threatened to halt the rise of Golovkin, but the Kazakh remained undefeated and seemingly unbeatable as he headed into a showdown with Canelo Alvarez in September 2017. The fight was heavily hyped but failed to fully fizzle despite the bubbling drama. Both men shook their heads in disbelief believing they had won as the scorecards were revealed to find a split draw decision, but the real winner was their bank accounts as it set up a lucrative second meeting.

If that was controversial, the rematch proved to be significantly more contentious, as 12 further rounds produced excellent entertainment, with Golovkin seeming to enjoy more success, though Alvarez found a regular home to the ribs and liver of his opponent.

Once again, the result was questionable, with Alvarez chosen as the winner on two scorecards, with the third judge scoring the bout a draw. Fans, media and the weird blur in between were furious, but the decision had been made, and the great warrior had finally been beaten for the first time.

GGG wants another crack at Canelo (Getty) (Getty Images)

Defeat makes people look at you differently and the viewing of failure is dangerously higher in boxing. All of a sudden, despite arguably winning the fight, Golovkin was accused of being too old, of being past his prime and ready for the stable. Are the cynics right?

A high-profile deal signed with broadcaster DAZN has secured his financial freedom within boxing, but what of his overall ambition? Does he still believe he’s the best in the world? When a trilogy bout with Alvarez failed to materialise, Golovkin destroyed the obscure Steve Rolls in the spring to set up the title clash with Derevyanchenko. It is not a fight that had the world talking beforehand, but there is a chance it unfolds into a fight everyone will want to see afterwards.

While Golovkin’s transition from amateur star to professional prospect was swift, his opponent tonight took a little longer to get to the top table. Derevyanchenko won bronze at the 2007 amateur World Championships and enjoyed a lucrative living as an amateur star in Ukraine.

One of the best fighters in the World Series of Boxing, an amateur-professional hybrid league format where he won 23 of 24 bouts, Derevyanchenko did not turn professional until seven years after his World Championships bronze having won 90 per cent of his 400+ amateur bouts.

Derevyanchenko made his pro debut in 2014, and quickly began to emerge as a prospect at middleweight. Turning to the paid ranks at a relatively late age of 29, the Ukrainian had to work fast to raise his profile and get to the big-money fights before his skills began to wane.

Stopping the dangerous Tureano Johnson in 2017 set up an early world title attempt against Jacobs last October, and though Derevyanchenko lost a tight split decision, his stock improved massively following the fight.

In just his 13th professional bout, Derevyanchenko took a world class fighter in Jacobs all the way, despite being dropped in the first round. Just as his compatriots Vasyl Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk had proved before, there is something special in the Ukrainian water and the ability of all three fighters to excel so early in 12-round fights is something quite remarkable.

The Ukrainian dropped a decision to Danny Jacobs but held his own (Getty)

So does he have a chance to topple Golovkin and become the number one European middleweight in the world? Perhaps. For all his skills and that immense amateur pedigree, Derevyanchenko has never won the big one. He never competed in a high-level amateur final, lost his world title opportunity and looked sluggish last time out against Jack Culcay. Though the younger man, there’s a possibility that Derevyanchenko is more shopworn than Golovkin.

Does he have the explosiveness, the power or the relentless to really trouble Golovkin, who for the grace of two judges, could be 41-0 right now with every middleweight belt in existence around his waist?

Yet does Golovkin still have that innate drive which saw him destroy opponents for the best part of a decade? What happens if he gets hit, hurt and dropped for the first time ever tonight? Does he remember how to win from behind? Or will the millions in his bank account and the advancing years on his birth certificate tell him that hey, maybe you don’t need to do this anymore?

This is an absolutely fascinating fight to predict and it’s one that is almost impossible to be boring. You’ve got two hard-as-nails men who have been there and done it through every avenue of boxing, They’re both nice guys who love punching people hard in the face for money. They’re both skilled as well as powerful, both have great chins and both have a history of entertainment.

And here’s the kicker. They both know that they have to win. This isn’t make or break, this is make or be broken. Who wants it more? We’ll find out in New York tonight.