Gennadiy Golovkin vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko

No opponent recorded by CompuBox had landed as many power punches on Gennadiy Golovkin as Sergiy Derevyanchenko managed on this October night, yet the Ukrainian left Madison Square Garden without the championship. His 183 power punches formed the substance of a performance that carried him close to victory, but an early knockdown and Golovkin’s heavier single blows persuaded all three judges to award the Kazakh a narrow decision.

The vacant IBF and IBO middleweight titles were at stake before an announced attendance of 12,577. Golovkin, aged 37 and weighing 159¼lb, entered with a record of 39 wins, one defeat and one draw. He was seeking to regain the IBF championship stripped from Saul Alvarez after Alvarez failed to agree terms with mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko. The Ukrainian weighed 159lb and stood at 13 wins and one defeat, which he reversed after a split-decision win against Daniel Jacobs in an earlier contest for the same belt.

Derevyanchenko made a cautious beginning, moving around Golovkin and attempting to enter behind quick bursts. Golovkin established his jab and, with about a minute remaining in the first round, sent the challenger down with a chopping right to the side and top of the head at the end of a combination. The blow did not appear to hurt Derevyanchenko badly, but the count was properly administered by referee Harvey Dock and gave Golovkin an immediate advantage on the scorecards. Derevyanchenko rose promptly and resumed his attack without evident distress.

The challenger increased his activity in the second round, using a double jab and following it with hooks from both hands. A deep cut opened above his right eye late in the session. Dock ruled that the injury had been caused by an accidental clash of heads, although television replays indicated that a Golovkin left hook might have done the damage. Derevyanchenko’s corner controlled the bleeding well, but the wound remained an obvious concern. Rather than retreat, he shortened the distance, reasoning that Golovkin’s looping blows were more dangerous when given room.

That adjustment altered the contest. During the third and fourth rounds, Derevyanchenko moved his head as he advanced, stepped to either side after punching and worked in combinations to the body and head. Golovkin’s jab continued to score, but he was no longer controlling the ground in his customary fashion. The challenger crowded him, struck beneath the elbows and forced him backwards in exchanges along the ropes. A straight left to the body in the fourth momentarily checked Golovkin, whose response was a hard hook upstairs.

The ringside doctor inspected Derevyanchenko’s cut before the fifth round, but allowed the fight to proceed. The Ukrainian then produced one of his strongest periods, maintaining a high rate of punching and shifting his position after each attack. Golovkin landed a firm uppercut midway through the round, only for Derevyanchenko to return to the body. In the final seconds, a left hook beneath the ribs plainly troubled Golovkin, who backed away with his arms lowered to protect his middle. The bell arrived at a useful moment for him.

Golovkin steadied himself in the sixth, meeting Derevyanchenko with the jab and landing the cleaner head punches during several severe exchanges. The challenger nevertheless remained close and continued to make Golovkin work at a pace which did not suit him. Through the seventh, eighth and ninth rounds the pattern scarcely relaxed. Derevyanchenko attacked in clusters, often finishing to the body, while Golovkin answered with fewer but more conspicuous hooks and right hands. Both men were marked, Derevyanchenko badly around the right eye and Golovkin showing fatigue unusual in a fighter long noted for maintaining pressure without visible discomfort.

Derevyanchenko forced Golovkin back for much of the first half of the tenth round, repeatedly entering under the jab and striking with both hands. Golovkin recovered late in the session with left and right hooks, but the challenger answered before the bell. The eleventh was close, Golovkin finding more accuracy with his jab and short uppercut while Derevyanchenko continued to press. There was no easing in the final round. Golovkin landed the more arresting single blows, Derevyanchenko replied with combinations, and the pair exchanged until the finish as the crowd rose to them.

Judges Frank Lombardi and Eric Marlinski scored the contest 115–112, while Kevin Morgan returned 114–113, all for Golovkin. The knockdown was decisive on the narrowest card. CompuBox recorded Golovkin landing 243 of 720 punches and Derevyanchenko 230 of 738. Golovkin held a 107–47 advantage in jabs, but Derevyanchenko led 183–136 in power punches and 50–22 in blows to the body. The figures accurately described the division of labour: Golovkin’s jab and heavier head shots against Derevyanchenko’s combinations and sustained work underneath. The decision was received with scattered boos, an uncommon sound for Golovkin at Madison Square Garden. It was not an indefensible verdict, but neither did it diminish Derevyanchenko’s claim that, over twelve demanding rounds, he had done enough to leave with the championship.

I had Derevyanchenko winning by a single point. From Golovkin’s side, a draw was the best result I could justify. I certainly could not make a convincing case for the unanimous decision he received.

Golovkin was 37 and no longer the relentless middleweight who had marched through Macklin, Murray and Lemieux. The two Canelo fights had taken something from him, while Derevyanchenko had already shown against Daniel Jacobs that he belonged at championship level. He was not a household attraction, but knowledgeable boxing people knew how dangerous his movement, work rate, and amateur schooling made him.

The first-round knockdown gave Golovkin an excellent start, but Derevyanchenko was not badly hurt. After that, he changed the geometry of the fight. He slipped inside the jab, moved his head on entry and worked in combinations before stepping off at an angle. Most importantly, he attacked the body. Golovkin has always possessed an exceptional chin, but body punches do not ask the chin’s permission, and several visibly troubled him.

Golovkin landed the harder, cleaner single shots, which probably influenced the judges, but Derevyanchenko controlled too many passages with his feet, punch volume and ring generalship. Golovkin looked uncomfortable when forced backwards and was waiting too long between attacks. It was close, but close does not automatically mean the famous man won. I thought Derevyanchenko earned it.