Gennadiy Golovkin is best known for his trilogy with Canelo Alvarez, but the toughest night of the Kazakh’s career came in 2019, just a few fights before his retirement.
Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin built a fearsome reputation as a fierce knockout artist in the middleweight division, with his record currently standing at 42-2-1 with only five of his wins coming by decision.
The Kazakh powerhouse has shared the ring with the likes of Kell Brook, Canelo Alvarez (in a highly controversial fight that many believe Gennadiy won), Daniel Jacobs, and many more.
It was in 2019, though, when GGG faced his toughest test against a Ukrainian whose record is now 15-6.
Gennadiy Golovkin failed to finish Sergiy Derevyanchenko even after horror cut opened on the Ukrainian
Golovkin took on then 13-1 Dervyanchenko, whose one loss came by way of split decision to Daniel Jacobs.
The Kazakh started the fight well, dropping Dervyanchenko in the first round, and opening a cut in the second, though this was ruled as due to a clash of heads.
As the cut worsened over the course of the fight, Derevyanchenko realized the contest could be called off at any moment, and fought like a man possessed.
Despite his injury, the Ukrainian refused to quit and took Golovkin the full twelve-round distance, forcing him to dig deep. The final scorecards read 115-112, 115-112, 114-113, all in favor of Golovkin. Golovkin fought only three times since then.
Golovkin famously shrugged off a punch from Canelo during their trilogy. Before that, though, GGG rolled back the years to knockout Ryota Murata.
Derevyanchenko also lost to Christian Mbilli, who seems set to face Diego Pacheco to determine who will face Canelo next year.
Only one other man has gone 12-rounds with Gennadiy Golovkin and lost
Aside from Derevyanchenko, Golovkin has beaten just four men by decision, stopping every other.
The first came in 2007, in Golovkin’s ninth fight, when he took on then 11-1 Mehdi Bouadla in an eight-round contest.
His next two decision victories also came in eight-round bouts, against Ian Gardner and Amar Amari.
Since then, Golovkin would not hear the final bell for almost ten years, until he won a unanimous decision against Daniel Jacobs in 2017, just one fight before his draw with Canelo, who punched Mexican influencer Paulo Chavira.
Jacobs and Derevyanchenko are the only two men to have gone the full twelve-round distance with ‘Triple G’ and lost.