Heartbreak spearheads Gennady Golovkin's rise, more boxing notebook

Four years earlier, in 1990, Vadim died, killed in action. There was no explanation from the government official who called the house, no details. The army there didn't work like that. He was just gone. Golovkin remembers his parents tears. He remembers the empty feeling in his stomach. He remembers a funeral without a body. Serving in the army was dangerous, Golovkin knew that. But he never expected this.

The second call, in '94, was worse. Sergey was gone, too. Back came the tears, back came the wails, back came the sinking, empty feeling, multiplied exponentially. Losing one brother was excruciating. But two? Once again, government officials offered no details. Like Vadim, Sergey was dead. And that was it. For months, the uncertainty of how Sergey and Vadim were killed haunted the household.

"It was very tough, very tough," Golovkin said. "My family, it really tore us up."

It was the kind of tragedy that can ruin a man, a family. No one would have blamed Golovkin if he went into a shell, if he quit the sport his brothers talked him into. He could have walked away, but he didn't. He pressed on. And he became perhaps the most feared middleweight in the world today.

*****

In the winter of 2010, Abel Sanchez got a phone call at his gym in Big Bear, Calif. from Oleg Herman, a boxing manager. "I've got a fighter I want you to meet," Herman said. "His name is Gennady Golovkin. Are you around?" "Sure," Sanchez told him. Not that he had any idea who Golovkin was.

Golovkin and his team drove up to Big Bear that day, armed with footage of some of his fights. For several hours, Sanchez and Golovkin dissected to the tapes, commenting, critiquing, developing a rapport.

"I saw some things coaches can't teach," Sanchez said. "He has heavy hands. He moves guys when he touches them."

Indeed, Golovkin had been throwing big punches all his life. Growing up, Sergey and Vadim would walk the streets with Golovkin and pick men out of a crowd. Are you afraid of him, they would ask Gennady. When he said no, they told him to go get into a fight. Sometimes they wrestled, sometimes they boxed, sometimes they just threw punches.

"My brothers, they were doing that from when I was in kindergarten," Golovkin said. "Every day, different guys."

Golovkin loved boxing. He was a student of the sport. Whenever there was a big fight in the U.S., Golovkin would wake up early in the morning to watch it. He studied the technique of Sugar Ray Robinson -- "My favorite fighter [on tape]," Golovkin said -- and adopted some of the style of Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Mike Tyson. His gym wasn't much, just a run of the mill fitness center with one ring to train in. But his coach kept him busy, often putting him into fights four or five days a week.

He developed real skills though, skills Sanchez could see right away. After 350 amateur fights, including a gold medal at the 2003 World Championships and a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, Golovkin, Sanchez said, "was 90 percent complete." Sanchez was particularly impressed with an amateur fight Golovkin had with former super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, who Golovkin knocked out late in the fight despite, Sanchez said, "being way ahead of him."

When Golovkin left, Herman told Sanchez that Golovkin would be back to begin training with him in a couple of months.

Sanchez, of course, didn't believe him.

"I said 'yeah sure,'" Sanchez said. "Two months later I got a call asking if can I pick him up at the airport."

The relationship with Sanchez clicked right away. Sanchez -- whose most acclaimed pupil was Hall of Fame junior middleweight Terry Norris -- was easy going, which Golovkin gravitated toward. The serenity of Big Bear worked for Golovkin, too. His search for a trainer took him to Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym, where he was uncomfortable with the crowds.

"Big Bear is an extension of where he came from," Sanchez said. "That was a big advantage for me. He went to visit a lot of coaches. At Freddie's gym, he would have been there two months and got sick of it because of all the chaos. Freddie is a great coach, but if you are not happy where you are you close your mind to it."

On a dry erase board at the gym, Sanchez made a list of the greatest fighters in boxing history. Muhammad Ali. Sugar Ray Robinson. Manny Pacquiao. Floyd Mayweather. "Give me three years," Sanchez told Golovkin. "I'll get you to the top of that list." For Sanchez, it wasn't about improving Golovkin's technique. There were some balance issues, sure, but mostly it was adjusting his mindset. For most of his career Golovkin was a counterpuncher, one comfortable with waiting for an opponent to make a mistake.

"What I wanted him to do," Sanchez said, "was make his opponent make a mistake. With us, it wasn't about working, it was about talking. It was about communicating what I was looking for and what the American public is looking for. The public is looking for a certain kind of fight. I'm not doing this just to have a winner, we want to get to the top of the pound for pound list and be the best HBO fighter. To do that, you have to fight a certain way."

As he was growing up, Golovkin has been a willing student. He came to the U.S., Golovkin said, "to become bigger" and was willing to do whatever Sanchez said to get there. He worked. He became more aggressive. In 2011, Golovkin knocked out Kassim Ouma, one of the most durable fighters in the sport. In his next fight, Golovkin stopped veteran Lajuan Simon -- who had not been stopped in any of his three previous defeats -- in the first round. Last September, Golovkin, making his debut on HBO, dropped Grzegorz Proksa three times before the fight was stopped in the fifth round.

"He was this little diamond that just needed to be polished," Sanchez said. "And he will damage anyone put in front of him."

*****

On Saturday, Golovkin (24-0) will defend his WBA middleweight title against Gabriel Rosado (21-5) in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden (9:45 p.m., HBO). Golovkin smiles when he talks about the fight. In fact, he smiles all the time. As menacing as he is in the ring, Golovkin is as gentle out of it. The short cropped hair and boyish face makes Golovkin, 30, look 10 years younger and the pleasant demeanor makes reporters wonder how he is able to flip that switch.

He does, of course, and Sanchez expects him to do it again. In many ways, Rosado is tailor made for Golovkin. He is an aggressive power puncher who won't shy away from a fight. In what Sanchez -- and HBO, for that matter -- expect to be a big and busy year for Golovkin, this will be a big chance to show the world what he has got.

"Rosado, I feel sorry for him," Sanchez said. "He is getting into the ring with the real thing."

Five Questions with Andre Ward, who will be a part of HBO's broadcast team on Saturday night

SI: So how is the shoulder?

AW: It's OK. I've probably watched more TV in the last few weeks than I have in my life. I'm really getting on everybody's nerves in my house. I'm in the process of keeping the shoulder immobilized. I'm doing very little with it, trying to get the scarring down to some degree to get it tight. From there we can start to stretch and go into rehab.

It blows my mind how so many athletes go through surgery and they say it was a success. You don't know if it was a success until you get back to work. Historically, throughout my career I have healed fast. We ideally wanted to have three fights this year. I still think we can have two.

SI: How long had it been bothering you?

AW: I Injured the arm in training and when I went to a primary doctor, they said it was just inflammation. That's when the first postponement [of his fight with Kelly Pavlik] came in. I immediately went to rehab, and three-four weeks go by and I'm still feeling discomfort. I see another doctor and discover there is a small tear in the shoulder capsule. I didn't know if we were going to reschedule and scrap the fight. That being said, I probably lost a month by not getting this surgery done right away.

SI:It doesn't sound like you plan on laying low.

AW: In general, it's going to be my point to be around the fight game. In March or April I want to make a UK tour and see what kind of buzz we have in the UK. I'm going to always watch good fights.

SI: The U.K.? Maybe to see Mikkel Kessler fight Carl Froch?

AW: Kessler and Froch, I don't need those fights. The lines get crossed somewhere, [Froch's promoter] Eddie Hearn, he talks a lot. I'm going to the UK to see my fans, for me. The only reason I'm talking about [Kessler and Froch] is these guys they keep bringing my name up. But there is no validity to what they are saying. Neither of them really wants to fight Andre Ward. Froch has to understand I went into our fight wounded. He doesn't really want to fight. I went on Sky Sports recently because I knew it was right in his living room. I told Eddie Hearn, if you want to fight, pick up the phone. They have to understand I'm the super middle champ. I don't have to wait for them. But they don't want it anyway. All I ask is they be honest with their fans. Don't be saying my name when you know you don't want to fight.

SI:You are going to be working the broadcast for the Golovkin fight. He's also mentioned as a possible opponent for you. Thoughts?

AW: It's an interesting fight. You have a guy in Golovkin who has the push to win and look good doing it. It's a victory for Rosado if he just looks good in the fight. I assume Golovkin is going to pull it off, a lot based on the amateur pedigree and his experience in the pros. Rosado is not as defensively responsible as he could be.

As for me and Golovkin, look at my body of work. I'll fight anyone out there. But look at his body of work and look at mine. There is no comparison. I fought the last three years with no break. I've been in grind mode. Let him build up his resume, get a body of work first, then we can talk.

Predictions: SI's Chris Mannix, Rich O'Brien and Bryan Armen Graham Weigh in on Golovkin-Rosado

Chris Mannix: I've got a lot of respect for Rosado, who fought his way from obscurity last January to a top ranking in the 154-pound division in December. And I think his chin is going to keep him in this fight for a while. But the toughest punches to handle are the ones you don't see, and Golovkin throws his power shots from all angles. Rosado will land some bombs and will back Golovkin up a time or two with some straight shots. But look for Golovkin to seize control in the later rounds and finish it before the final bell. Golovkin by 10th round knockout.

Rich O'Brien: This one has been set up as a showcase for Golovkin and there's no reason to suspect it will turn out any other way. Rosado is a versatile, resourceful fighter, but whatever he tries -- whether boxing or brawling -- he's facing an uphill battle against the rapidly-developing and frighteningly powerful Golovkin. Look for GGG to take a couple of rounds to get going and then blast Rosado out. Golovkin by sixth round knockout.

Bryan Armen Graham: This time last year Golovkin was a YouTube curiosity known only to hardcore boxing fans. That all changed on Sept. 1, when the European-based middleweight titleholder delivered spectacularly in his U.S. debut. Rosado won't be a walkover. He is a rangy fighter on the rise who will use distance to neutralize Golovkin's devastating two-handed power. But the house fighter's rare blend of technique and heavy-handed punching -- as evidenced by 21 knockouts in 24 paying fights -- will be enough to win the day, mostly likely inside the distance. Golovkin by 10th round knockout.

From the Mailbag: Three Questions from the Inbox

You know Mikey Garcia-Orlando Salido is themain event Saturday, right?--Tim, Los Angeles

You're right, Tim. Somewhat lost in the buzz over Golovkin-Rosado has been the featherweight showdown between Garcia and Salido. But like Golovkin-Rosado, that should be an explosive fight. I've noticed some trepidation among Top Rank executives about this one. Salido already knocked Juan Manuel Lopez off the pedestal, knocking him out twice in just under a year. There is genuine concern he will do the same thing to Garcia, another prized prospect in Top Rank's stable. Salido is tough, physical and isn't afraid of anyone, and should be able to take many of Garcia's power shots. But I think Garcia is a better technical fighter than people give him credit for. I'm expecting him to win and take his career to the next level.

What's Vitali Klitschko's deal anyway? Is he going to fight again?--Bobby, Sacramento

My guess is that he will, Bobby. I'm not sure what is taking him so long to make a decision, really. He makes millions to fight, says he loves training and is barely touched in the ring. He has told me often that he would love an opportunity to fight David Haye and Haye is practically begging for the fight. I don't know when he is going to make an announcement but I still expect him to be back in the ring at least one more time

Is Sergey Kovalev the real deal? He looks like a beast in the ring but I can't tell if it's because he is so good or the competition he is facing isn't the best.--Michael, Brooklyn

I'm a big fan of Kovalev, Mike. On Saturday he has a really good test against Gabriel Campillo (9 p.m., NBC Sports Network). Campillo is a tremendous boxer who has been robbed repeatedly in title fights, first against Beibut Shumenov in 2010 and again against Tavoris Cloud last year. I've heard that Campillo has had a rocky training camp, but his style should give Kovalev some problems.

That said, I still think Kovalev finishes him early, which will set him up for a big fight later this year. Keep an eye on the Cloud-Bernard Hopkins fight in March. The winner could be a candidate to face Kovalev, particularly if Cloud comes out on top.