Gennadiy Golovkin Knocked Out Steve Rolls With A Vicious Left Hand

Gennadiy Golovkin (39-1-1) entered Saturday night looking to bounce back after the first professional loss of his career to Canelo Alvarez, facing Canadian fighter Steve Rolls (19-1-0) at Madison Square Garden.

After Anthony Joshua suffered a stunning knockout loss a week ago at the same venue to Andy Ruiz Jr., Golovkin insisted he wasn’t worried about the same thing happening because he was fully locked in on Rolls — even though he still wants a third bout with Alvarez later this fall. Whether he can get that Canelo fight as his next fight remains to be seen, but for anyone worried about GGG losing his fastball at 37 years old, he put that — and Rolls — to rest early.

Golovkin hadn’t fought in nine months and didn’t look especially sharp early but none of that mattered when his spectacular power came to the forefront in the fourth round. GGG pushed Rolls back to the ropes and, after just missing with an overhand right, delivered a brutal knockout punch with a looping left hand that caught Rolls square on the chin.

The formerly undefeated Canadian collapsed to the canvas and the way his knee bent back everyone knew it was a wrap. Golovkin picked up the 35th knockout of his career to hand Rolls his first loss as a pro. Now, Golovkin will shift his attention to trying to land another Canelo fight, although Oscar De La Hoya pumped the brakes on the certainty of that this week.

Whatever’s next for GGG, the first fight of his six bout deal with DAZN went exactly as planned, and there’s no reason to believe he can’t continue to be a big draw and deliver exciting knockout moments going forward.