Willie Monroe Jr. was last seen in an extremely gutsy performance against Gennady Golovkin back in May of this year. Monroe lost that fight by becoming another addition to “Triple G’s” KO/TKO streak, but he earned respect from fans and at least contributed to the vague idea that Golovkin isn’t as unhittable as previously believed.
The Monroe victory led to Golovkin’s first PPV headliner on HBO against David Lemieux, a fight that ended in yet another Golovkin stoppage, although the outcome came in a much more technically sound fashion. And so the Golovkin allure grew, building on the idea that Golovkin is better than any of us ever really understood and could dominate in a variety of styles. If nothing else, Golovkin proved that he possesses a boxing IQ that is as sound as his violent offensive prowess.
In an interview with Rahman McGilberry of FightHype, published on the outlet’s YouTube channel, Monroe spoke about his frustrations with the fans and media calling for a Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Gennady Golovkin fight.
“It wouldn’t make sense at all,” Monroe said of a potential Mayweather-Golovkin showdown. “People ask so much of Floyd. You got to remember, that man started his career at hundred, and what, 125lbs? And he’s 38 years old. Floyd doesn’t even walk around at 154lbs. I’ve met Floyd, I’ve been in his gym, I’ve hung with Floyd. Floyd’s a little guy.”
Floyd actually started at 130lbs, but the point was made regardless.
Monroe feels as though the same people demanding that fight don’t realize how out of touch they are with Floyd’s impressive career and the decisions he made based on his skillset being so much further from his opponent’s.
“Floyd fights 147 and 154 because he has options. If Floyd was an up-and-coming fighter right now at his size and he was hungry, he would still be 140. Realistically, I don’t even know why people are trying to call for that fight.”
Monroe used Bernard Hopkins as an example for a historical reference to compare to Golovkin’s current circumstances as it relates to a Floyd fight. He recalled a time when Hopkins was calling out Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley and how everyone gave him flack for calling out elite fighters in a lower weight division to the one he was campaigning in at the time.
Monroe asks why Hopkins received criticism back then, but it’s okay now in the eyes of fans for Golovkin to call out Floyd.
It is a fair point, although he may be neglecting the fact that Floyd was not just the pound for pound best of his era, but possibly one of the greatest fighters of all-time. De La Hoya and Mosley were excellent fighters by any standard, but Mayweather operates on a higher level, thus making a potential fight with Golovkin fairly even.
The only argument is that Golovkin is on Mayweather’s level from a pound for pound standpoint. If Monroe and others are willing to argue that Golovkin is as talented as Floyd, or, at least, close to, then the size advantage that Golovkin possesses is too great, thus making the proposed matchup critically unfair.
Despite all of the conjecture involved with an improbable Mayweather-Golovkin fight, Monroe does have a solution that could satisfy everyone, with the exception of those that still hold out hope that Floyd will blemish his perfect record.
“[Floyd] is the prime reason why boxing is where it is as of today. I think you just respect him. Give him his props. Let him have his legacy and let ‘Triple G’ build his legacy the way he’s building it.”
