Gennady Golovkin, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Kenia Enriquez all winners Saturday at The Forum
Dominic Wade is given a 10-count by referee Jack Reiss on his way to losing to Gennady Golovkin during a unified middleweight title fight at The Forum on April 23, 2016 in Inglewood, Calif. Photo: Harry How/Getty Images
With his second round knockout of the previously unbeaten IBF mandatory challenger, 26 year-old Dominic Wade (18-1, 12 KOs) from Largo, Maryland, on Saturday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California, the 34 year-old Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) retains his WBA, IBF, IBO and interim WBC World Middleweight titles.
After dropping Wade with an overhand right at the end of round one, we saw Wade go down twice more in round two before the referee stopped the bout. Not to be overly dramatic but when GGG knocked Wade down, he went down on all fours. He managed to beat the count, but then seconds later, after another right, the challenger was down for the count.
Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan is shown celebrating his second round TKO victory over Dominic Wade during their middleweight title fight at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on April 23, 2016. Photo: Harry How/Getty Images
In retrospect, you got to figure this was an epic mismatch, and anyone who knows the sport can attest to that. In the second round, Golovkin, again on the attack, appeared ready to close out the fight. Instead, the crowd pleaser appeared to inexplicably permit Wade to land several punches to his face. The fact that Golovkin could weather these blows must have sent a deflating message to his opponent. ‘Seriously Wade, is that all you got? Even with my hands down, you couldn’t hurt me?’ He followed up with a solid overhand right to Wade’s temple which again sent him to the mat. Wade did get up before the count of 10, but now he was wobbly. At that point, Golovkin proceeded to pounce on Wade and despite taking some blows in the process, the bout culminated with another hard right cross to send Wade to the mat for the final time.
Up until Saturday, Wade had been undefeated, but in reality, who did he fight? His toughest opponent was a gentleman by the name of Sam Soliman, a 41-year-old from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and he struggled to win that fight winning by a close split-decision.
Many are saying it’s about time the WBC remove their silly “interim” tag from Golovkin’s WBC title. Most anyone who knows anything about boxing knows Golovkin is the best and has faced the toughest competition is the middleweight class. With Golovkin’s 22nd consecutive knockout, it appears he’s running out of middleweights to beat up. The WBC in their infinite wisdom has Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as their undisputed World Middleweight Champ by virtue of his decision win over the smaller, lighter Miguel Cotto at the end of his illustrious career.
At this point, Alvarez is scheduled to face Amir Khan, another former lightweight (130 to 135 lbs.) in defense of his WBC World Middleweight Title on May 7th. That’s right, Khan is by no means as big or strong as the more stocky built Alvarez, his thing is speed-of-hands.
Roman Gonzalez (r) punches McWilliams Arroyo on his way to winning a 12 round unanimous decision victory at The Forum on April 23, 2016 in Inglewood, Calif. Photo: Harry How/Getty Images
On the undercard, WBC flyweight champ Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs) won a 12 round unanimous decision over McWilliams Arroyo (16-3, 14 KOs). After a competitive first round, Gonzalez took full control. Then, in round four, the sole of Arroyo’s right shoe fell off and of course they had no backup. After the Press finds out which company made that shoe, that shoe company might think about closing their doors. Anyway, Arroyo continued on with the faulty shoe while Chocolatito was relentless and the scorecards attest to that 119-109, 119-109, 120-108.
Next, we have super featherweight Pedro Duran (14-0, 11 KOs) knocking out Pedro Lopez (6-3-1, 2 KOs) at the three-minute mark of round four of their scheduled 8 rounder. Duran floored Lopez midway through round one with a counter left hook and again at the end of the second round from a short right, also a counter. Lopez, with his wide looping punches, was his own worst enemy. By the end of the fourth round Lopez had taken far too much punishment and his corner decided it was time to call it a night.
Super lightweight Ryan Martin (14-0, 9 KOs) stopped Rosbel Montoya (16-8-1) at 1:51 of the fifth round of their scheduled six-rounder. Martin dropped Montoya late in the first round and again in the fourth. Martin was returning after an eleven and a half month layoff. With this loss, Montoya has now lost six in a row, five by stoppage.
(l to r, top to bottom) Seniesa Estrada, Selene Lopez, Kenia Enriquez and Amaris Quintana.
In the much anticipated match between former sparring partners, 22 year-old Kenia Enriquez (15-1, 7 KOs) of Tijuana, B. C., Mexico, the former WBO light flyweight world titleholder, and her 26 year-old friend San Diego’s Amaris “Diamond Girl” Quintana (9-2-2), it was Enriquez dominating from start to finish. Then, at the 0:16 mark of round five of their scheduled six rounder, Quintana went down on the canvas and Hall of Fame referee Raul Caiz Jr. decided it was time to wave off the bout. Enriquez dropped Quintana with a left hook midway through the first round and continued to punish her the remainder of that round. Enriquez easily won the next three rounds and hurt Quintana on multiple occasions. Then, in the fifth round, Quintana went down again after a jab, right cross, jab, and that was it.
In the other female bout, 23-year-old Seniesa Estrada of East Los Angeles (6-0, 1 KO) won a six round unanimous decision over Selene Lopez (3-5-3, 1 KO) of Mexicali, B. C., Mexico. Simply put, Estrada used combinations to outwork Lopez, who on occasion landed several heavy blows but nothing that could stop the spirited Estrada. All three judges had Estrada winning every round.
Since Estrada and Enriquez are both considered super flyweights and they’re so close in age, 23 and 22 respectively, their meeting in the not too distant future seems like an ideal match-up.
