The fighter known as “Triple G,” Gennady Golovkin, puts his knockout streak on the line when he faces Brooklyn, New York, native Daniel Jacobs — another knockout specialist — in what promises to be an explosive fight at Madison Square Garden, airing on HBO Pay-Per-View television on Saturday . But a pay-per-view live stream will also be available. See the links at the bottom of this page for more information.
The 34-year-old Golovkin — a native of Kazakhstan who fights out of Los Angeles, California — holds three major middleweight title belts , which will all be at risk when he steps into the ring against Jacobs on Saturday night, or more likely early Sunday morning, at the “Mecca of Boxing,” Madison Square Garden. But more to the point, at an undefeated 36-0, Golovkin has knocked out all but three of the opponents he has faced in his nearly 11-year career.
In fact, Golovkin has not failed to stop an opponent since June of 2008, knocking out all 23 of his opponents since then.
But the 30-year-old Jacobs has also earned a reputation as one of boxing’s most explosive punchers, with a 12-fight knockout streak of his own — and 30 knockouts in his 32 victories against just one loss.
Jacobs’ lone defeat came on July 31, 2010, to Russian Dmitry Pirog who was in training for a fight with Golovkin two years later when he suffered a crippling back injury that forced him to bring his 20-0 career to a premature end.
Jacobs suffered a one-punch knockout in the fifth round of that fight after leading Pirog on the scorecards the whole way to that point.
Though the fight takes place in New York City, Saturday’s matchup is expected to be an “away game” for Brooklynite Jacobs, who has fought five times in the last five years at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, compared to just three times at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden in his pro career.
Golovkin, on the other hand, has built a solid fan base among the Garden crowd fighting there four times — twice in the main arena and twice in the 5,000-seat theater in the same facility. The last time Golovkin fought at Madison Square Garden, against unheralded Canadian David Lemieux in October of 2015, he packed the arena with a sellout crowd of more than 20,500.
Golovkin’s most recent fight, however, took him to London, England, where despite scoring a fifth-round stoppage of British star Kell Brook he faced criticism for what boxing experts saw as a sluggish performance in which “Triple G” found himself taking more punches than normal and displaying a lack of his usual aggression.
As a result, many of those same experts expect Golovkin to come out swinging, looking for a quick KO of Jacobs — an approach that could lead to plenty of early fireworks in the Saturday night showdown.
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Golovkin and Jacobs are scheduled to make their way to the ring at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, 8:30 p.m. Pacific, on Saturday, March 18, at Madison Square Garden arena in New York, New York. A pay-per-view live stream can be purchased in the United States for $64.95 from Ring TV by visiting this link . Fans who have IP addresses in the United Kingdom can buy a flat-rate monthly subscription to Box Nation for £12 (about $15) per month. The subscription fee covers all fights on the all-boxing pay TV channel, including Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs, which will start at about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 19 Greenwich Mean Time in the United Kingdom.
Box Nation is also available to United Kingdom-based subscribers to BT Sports or the Sky TV BT Sports Pak at no extra cost, meaning those fans can watch a live stream of the Golvkin vs. Jacobs fight for nothing extra above their normal subscription. Go to the BT Sport live stream page at this link , or download the BT Sport app for mobile devices.
[Featured Image by Harry How/Getty Images]