It’s GGG time as 21-0 Pole Kamil Szeremeta gets in the squared circle with one of the most feared middleweights of all time, the fearsome Triple G, Gennady Golovkin. This is the first of a Friday, then Saturday night double header on DAZN UK as the American Fight Channel introduces itself to the British public and no two better men to do that than GGG and Canelo.
Reshat Mati (8-0-0) vs Dennis Okoth (4-4-1)
We begin the night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Florida with the Albanian New Yorker Reshat Mati taking on Kenyan Denis Okoth.
Keep an on this kid, because I believe he is going to be special, last time out he dispatched of 17-5-2 Marcos Mojica on the undercard of Devin Haney’s defence of his WBC Lightweight World Title against Yuriokis Gamboa and prior to the Reshat Mati was on the undercard of Jono Carroll’s special win over Scott Quigg as Mati demolished Abdallah Luanja inside 2 rounds.
Kenyan Dennis Okoth in the last couple of years been the man that determines whether you are good enough to go all the way or not, 9 have tried and only 4 have past the acid test of Dennis Okoth and some good names, including Ireland’s 15-1 prospect Dylan Moran.
Prediction: Mati is, for me, an unbelievable prospect and one that I’m excited to see flourish. Mati to find the stoppage between 2 and 4 rounds.
Hyun Mi Choi (17-0-1) vs Calista Silgado (19-11-3)
Time for the Women to take centre stage as Korean Hyun Mi Choi takes on Colombian Calista Silgado for the WBA Super Featherweight World Title.
Choi has an almost perfect record, the only blemish on her record being a 10-round draw with fellow Korean Hyo Min Kim in just her second fight. Choi has since won 16 in a rowbut this is her first fight outside South Korea.
Calista Silgado’s record isn’t as bad as the numbers suggest with her losses coming against very good fighters, including the Serrano Sisters, Shelly Vincent (x2) and most recently the WBO Super Featherweight World Title holder Mikaela Mayer.
Prediction: I think we could be in for a shock here, with Hyun Mi Choi never fighting outside of Korea and Calista Silgadohaving a crazy resume, I can see Silgado being too ‘street smart’ for Choi. Silgado points.
John Ryder (28-5-0) vs Mike Guy (12-5-1)
Londoner John Ryder is over in the states this time, taking on home fighter Mike Guy in a 10-round contest.
Last time out John Ryder put in the performance of his life against Callum Smith, albeit to come up just short, losing a points decision to the man who takes on the ‘face of boxing’ Saul ‘Canelo’ Alverez this weekend.
The loss was very dubious, with a lot of British fight fans claiming it to be a robbery. I personally believe the wrong decision was called but it was a very close fight and the ‘robbery’ claims are a bit over the top.
39 year old Mike Guy is a tough man and a very difficult man to stop, with Sergiy Derevyanchenko being the only man to achieve that feat and there was only 30 seconds left of the 8-round contest when the stoppage came.
Prediction: John Ryder will want to make a statement here and I believe he should. I can see John Ryder stopping Mike Guy in the middle rounds.
Ali Akhmedov (16-0-0) vs Carlos Gongora (18-0-0)
This will be fun, as two unbeaten men with over 70% knockout ratio go head-to-head in the co-main event when Ali Akhmedov takes on Carlos Gongora for the Vacant IBO Super Middleweight World Title.
25-year-old Kazakhstani Ali Akhmedov is to say the least exciting, the very promising young fighter took just 44 seconds to take out Andrew Hernandez last time out on another GGG undercard, while taking the unbeaten record of (then 15-0) Marcus McDaniel in 3 prior to that.
2x Ecuadorian Olympian Carlos Gongora has somewhat been underwhelming during his professional career, even with his 18-0 record, including 13 knockouts, the issue is just that he’snot really fought anyone of note and has just been knocking people who have no right to be in the ring with him over.
Prediction: We will see how good Gongora can be in a professional ring with this being his first ‘real’ test, but I think what we will find out is that Ali Akhmedov is the real dealand I can see him dispatching of Gongora inside 6 rounds.
Gennadiy Golovkin (40-1-1) vs Kamil Szeremeta (21-0-0)
The return of Triple G. after over 12 months out, due to the global pandemic. as he takes on 21-0 Polish contender Kamil Szeremeta for his IBO and IBF Middleweight World Titles.
Golovkin comes into the bout after a dubious points win over Sergiy Drevyanchenko, a performance in which a lot of fight fans have determined Golovkin to be ‘over-the-hill’ because of. I believe there could be some weight in this claim, with the feared Kazakh now being 38 and having a couple of absolute wars with ‘Canelo’, he may be coming to the end of his dominant era.
Unbeaten Kamil Szeremeta comes into his toughest test yet,after demolishing Mexican Oscar Cortes on the undercard of his competitors last bout at Madison Square Garden, New York in just 2 rounds. Szeremeta is a classy boxer but with only 5 of his 21 victories coming by way of knockout, against a much lower opposition to Golovkin, this is a tough test.
Prediction: I can’t see anything other than a Golovkin stoppage win, I believe Szeremeta will cause Golovkin problems early with his boxing skill and nice footwork but I don’t see it taking long for Golovkin to work him out, walk him down and stop him.
Personally, I see Golovkin taking Szeremeta out inside 6 rounds, after a cagey 2 or 3 rounds, I think Golovkin will realise he can take Szeremeta’s best punches without much effect and take him out in rounds 4-6.
By Bobby Gunn of Simboxx
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