Gennadiy Golovkin: From Despair To Champion

Gennadiy Golovkin: From Despair To Champion

 By Will Lott

Boxing has and always will be a working-class sport, creating inspiring stories of fighters that came from difficult backgrounds and beat the odds to become a world champion and Gennadiy Golovkin is no different.

Born in Karaganda in what was the former Soviet Union and present-day Kazakhstan, Golovkin was exposed to boxing early on, encouraged by his two older brothers, Sergey and Vadim to start training at the age of 8. Being part of the Soviet Union at this time meant GGG was exposed to political instability which may well have attracted him and his family towards the combat sports.

As part of his early life, before he had even begun training in boxing, his brothers would pit him against older children, not every now and again but every day. This led him inevitably towards boxing and towards becoming the ferocious and fearless puncher we see today. At just nine years old, GGG waved goodbye to his two older brothers who were conscripted to fight for the Russian army after the collapse of the USSR, and neither of them returned. Both were killed in unknown circumstances including one’s coffin being buried without a body inside. A horrible weight for a young man to carry on his shoulders.

Golovkin’s father continued to work in the mines to earn a living, which was what Gennady was expected to do before he found the path toward boxing. Despite being the monster-punching, granite-chinned world champion we know Golovkin to be today, he reckons he is not even the best fighter in his family. Twin brother Maxim is considered the better fighter but had to stay behind to work in the mine while GGG went to the Olympics. Only one Kazakhstani could qualify and Maxim volunteered his brother to try to qualify first on account of him being older. The rest is history.

With a silver medal at the Olympics in Athens, he finished his career with an amateur record of 345 wins with just 5 defeats. Fast forward nearly two decades and he is a two-time middleweight champion and still an elite fighter at 40 years old. Golovkin has gone on to earn millions and is set to complete the trilogy when he steps in the ring with Canelo this weekend. Win or lose he has surely secured himself a place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame when he finally hangs up his gloves and a place in the memories of boxing fans worldwide.

Photo Credit: Getty Images