Gennady Golovkin stops Curtis Stevens to retain WBA middleweight title

Gennady Golovkin retained his unbeaten record with a stoppage of Curtis Stevens in the eighth defence of his WBA middleweight belt.

skysports.com

The Kazakh bruiser forced Stevens' corner to step in and end the fight during a one-sided eighth round, with a flurry of punches leaving Stevens dazed and bloodied at Madison Square Garden.

Victory takes Golovkin's record to 28-0, with 25 of those wins coming by stoppage, and it was the 15th fight in a row he has won without needing to go the distance.

But it will not go down as an easy victory for the 31-year-old despite him having put Stevens down as early as the second round.

The American, whose record drops to 25-4, started slowly and could well have been finished inside six minutes, only just beating the count after being caught by a sensational Golovkin left hook.

Tired

But he took time to recover and Golovkin had to fend off a fierce assault in the fourth, when he was caught by a quick left-right combination by the brave challenger.

Stevens stayed in contention past the halfway mark but started to tire noticeably in the seventh when he had to take plenty of punishment on the ropes.

That continued in the eighth when Stevens barely managed to land a counter-punch, and his corner decided enough was enough after the bell rang to end the round.

Golovkin was soon setting his sights on the future after the fight, calling out a number of likely rivals he would like to take on soon.

He said: "My plan was just to box. I know I'm the champion, my speed is better, my power is better. My coach told me to box, not have a crazy fight, a street fight.

"Stevens is a strong guy. After the knockdown I felt great, it was my fight. I am open for everybody. Sergio Martinez, Peter Quillin, I am here."

Source: www1.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/9006163/gennady-golovkin-stops-curtis-stevens-to-retain-wba-middleweight-title

Gennady Golovkin boxing results: Golovkin stops Curtis Stevens in 8 rounds

Get the results here from Gennady Golovkin vs Curtis Stevens on HBO, as Bloody Elbow presents full results with gifs.

By Fraser Coffeen   -   bloodyelbow.com

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Gennady Golovkin def. Curtis Stevens by TKO round 8 3:00

Gennady Golovkin vs. Curtis Stevens was built largely on the promise of a big KO finish, but for a time, it looked like Stevens might be able to box his way past Golovkin's power. But as the fight progressed, Golovkin landed more and more, piling the punches on as the rounds wore on. By the end of round 8, both the referee and Stevens' corner had seen enough, and the fight was waved off.

Early on, this was a battle of Golovkin's jab vs. Stevens' left hook. But ironically, it was a left hook by Golovkin that drew first blood, as he dropped Stevens in round 2 with that hook. Stevens did a surprisingly good job recovering from that knockdown, but he could not deal with the offensive output and constant power punches from Golovkin.

Post-fight, Golovkin called out Sergio Martinez to a big cheer from the crowd.

Check out gifs of the action below, courtesy of Zombie Prophet.
 

read more:  www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/11/2/5059978/gennady-golovkin-boxing-results-gifs-video-curtis-stevens-hbo