Golovkin vs Rolls Preview & Prediction

Golovkin vs Rolls Preview & Prediction

By Lewis Stephens

Amidst the fall-out from the weekend’s action in which a heavyweight king was incredibly dethroned, a former middleweight king is looking to make his way back to the top.

When Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin (38-1-1) steps into the ring on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden against the relatively unknown Steve Rolls (19-0) he’ll be a heavy favourite to not only win, but do so with ease.

The ultimate aim for the Kazakhstani man? A win to set up a trilogy fight against the current WBA, WBC and IBF champion Canelo Alvarez, a man who Golovkin believes he has beaten, not once, but twice.

As usual GGG looked and sounded familiarly relaxed as he appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show earlier this week to preview his upcoming contest:

“I don’t feel pressure, I feel very comfortable.”

One of the major talking points this weekend will be the man appearing in the corner with Golovkin for the first time, Jonathan Banks.

Following the well-publicised fallout with his long-time trainer and friend Abel Sanchez, GGG has looked to Banks to guide him through the final years of his career.

Banks himself has been in the corner for his fair share of high-profile fights during his time as part of former heavyweight kingpin Wladimir Klitschko’s training set up.

So the spotlight and build-up surrounding the bout will be nothing new for the former cruiserweight world title challenger.

At the public workout ahead of the fight a new-look Golovkin was on display. The hard-hitting middleweight was looking more defined and displaying some slick combos on the pads with Banks. An almost complete polar opposite to what we have seen in the past from GGG under Sanchez, where he would batter the pads flaunting his famed knockout power.

With Rolls what we have is a relatively unknown quantity. But it was not so long ago that Golovkin was viewed as such before in before some of his more high-profile wins over the likes of David Lemieux and Matthew Macklin.

So what can we expect from the Canada native? From what little footage there is of him it becomes clear he looks to possess a good engine and will try to put together combos against Golovkin rather than look to land single punches. A wise tactic considering the granite chin GGG shown throughout his career.

So does the Canadian outsider have a chance of upsetting the odds? After Andy Ruiz Jr’s triumph over Anthony Joshua last weekend you wouldn’t dare bet against anything. But looking down his former opponents it’s tough to gain a real understanding of what to expect from the underdog.

The bookmakers though are sticking to their guns and are giving Rolls next to no chance of pulling off a remarkable upset with some offering odds as short as 1/50 on GGG to emerge victorious.

So the challenge appears almost insurmountable on paper but with Rolls’ true ability unknown he could prove to be more than meets the eye. However, with a trilogy fight against Canelo seemingly within touching distance should GGG win, I expect him to dispose of Rolls and in quite brutal fashion at that on his DAZN debut.