Boxing: Golovkin floors Simon in 137 seconds

BERLIN: World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan defended his WBA belt against Lajuan Simon of the US with a first-round knock-out. Golovkin needed just 137 seconds to beat Simon. After landing a heavy right early in the round, a fast left hook from Golovkin stopped Simon for the first time in what was only the second defeat of his career. It was the 19th knock-out of Golovkin’s career. The bout had been due to appear on the card for Wladimir Klitschko’s world heavyweight title fight against Jean-Marc Mormeck, which was called off after the Ukrainian had surgery for kidney stones. Klitschko will now face Mormeck on March 3.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2011.