(Golovkin poses for a photo ahead of the Dec. 4 press conference in London for the Murray fight [Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images])
The last month has been a dry time for boxing fans. We’ve had nothing to slake our thirst. The gods demand a sacrificial offering, so we must provide one. England’s Martin Murray is the man. Gennady Golovkin is the executioner.
How long will their middleweight bout in Monaco last? Possibly less time than it has taken you to read this far. Luckily there’s other boxing on TV this week if you want to rack up some hours in front of the box.
- Gennady Golovkin vs. Martin Murray, Saturday, HBO, Monte Carlo. Golovkin (31-0, 28 KO) continues his keep-busy strategy, and it’s a good one. England’s Murray (29-1-1, 12 KO) is one of the last men left standing in the middleweight division, a jack of all trades who can box but quite likes to stand in close and bang, despite his modest power. He’s good, but I don’t see anything that could possibly worry the heavy-handed Kazakh. The undercard features a nice fight (which won’t be shown on HBO) between strawweights Hekkie Budler (27-1, 9 KO) and Jesus Silvestre (30-5, 22 KO).
- Boxcino Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinals, Friday, ESPN2, Verona N.Y. Last week it was the middleweights, this week ESPN’s Boxcino tournament is onto the heavyweights. Almost all the guys involved are at the very beginning of their pro careers. No matter how rough they are, eight big guys swinging for the fences will be fun, though. Don’t blink.
- Sammy Vasquez vs. Emmanuel Lartey, Friday, Showtime, Pittsburgh. ShoBox is back in action also, with a welterweight headliner between Sammy “The Who Can Mexican” Vasquez (17-0, 13 KO) and Ghana’s Emmanuel Lartei Lartey (16-2-1, 7 KO), a tough customer who took Vasquez’s fellow prospects Errol Spence and Felix Diaz the distance.
- Arthur Abraham vs. Paul Smith II, Saturday, Berlin. Abraham (41-4, 28 KO) continues to fight and we continue to feign interest. This time round it’s a rematch with Paul Smith (35-4, 20 KO), who he won a dubiously wide decision over in September last year.
