Why Ryan Garcia is wrong and Gennady Golovkin should be in the Hall of Fame

Comets, importing change of times and states, brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, and with them scourge the bad revolting stars!

Such a dramatic Shakespearean into of woe is truly apt today for I am - to put it mildly - bereft. Bereft because there are people out there, actual people, who don’t feel Gennady Golovkin should be in the Boxing Hall of Fame.

Ryan Garcia is one high profile boxing insider who felt Golovkin’s body of work didn’t merit a spot in the Hall.

Garcia boasts a massive social media presence, particularly on Instagram where he has over 12M followers. When he speaks, people tend to listen, and he said on DAZN’s Inside the Ring show in October: “Triple G had no really great victories. I mean, who did he beat?”

Golovkin has been out of action since he suffered his second defeat to Canelo Alvarez in 2022, which meant earlier this year he became eligible for induction in the Men’s Modern category.

Despite King Ry’s mutterings, the International Boxing Hall of Fame announced earlier this month that GGG will be the unofficial headliner of the class of 2026 - just as most sane minded folk knew he would be. Golovkin takes his place in 2026 alongside Nigel Benn and Antonio Tarver.

Following the news, Garcia doubled down on his take that GGG does not deserve to be in Canastota when he said "Triple G shouldn't have been in there at all. For me it's hard to get in the hall of fame, it seems like anybody good will get in there.

Ed Mullholland/Matchroom

"Let me just say one thing, I love my Kazakhstan fans, I'm sorry you know."

Garcia is entitled to his opinion of course. As am I. And I say human beings fall into two broad categories: those who think Golovkin deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and those who are wrong.

Sure, his career wasn’t perfect. He didn’t quite put it all together on his truly biggest nights, but he was a terror for over a decade at 160 and one of the best pure punchers in the business.

You would have to have had a heart made out of pure stone – or backed the draw yourself at fancy prices – not to feel sorry for Golovkin in that first Canelo fight when the scores were read out.

The official scorecards were widely criticised - particularly Judge Adalaide Byrd's score of 118-110 in favour of Canelo - which in hindsight was an absolute shocker of a card.

It was a competitive fight, but Golovkin was the primary aggressor for most of the evening, occasionally eating Canelo’s best shots like iconic 1980s’s video game character Pac Man and consistently moving forward and controlling the centre of the ring in Vegas.

That September 2017 showdown ended in a draw of course, and their 2018 return was another classic, that Canelo edged on points.

Officially he went 0-2-1 against Canelo – his biggest rival – but the streets won’t forget.

Straight up frightening

Critics may also point to the fact he never truly went after the Andre Ward fight, and naysayers will point out he only unified and never became undisputed at 160.

I have seen people alluding online – no doubt influenced by Garcia’s musings – that Golovkin’s overall record is a bit thin by the IBHOF’s standards.

Listen, there is quote from The Dark Knight (spoken by Harvey Dent), which says “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

At its core, the quote gives a subtle nod to the corrupting effect of time. It suggests that staying “pure” is difficult in the long run. In short, being remembered as good often depends on when and how your story ends.

Golovkin lost his last big fight, but that does not mean he is not HOF worthy. Let’s not forget this was a man who was shamelessly avoided by his peers during his absolute peak and never got the meaningful fights until he was slightly past his best.

The version of GGG that fought Canelo – or even Danny Jacobs – was a step slower in terms of reflexes, hands and feet.

Yet his absolute peak was straight up frightening. Effortless power. Brilliant ring fundamentals. Relentless (but educated) pressure. That jab. A jab that must have felt like being hit by a Kazakh police truncheon.

Twenty-three straight wins inside the distance. Folding decent, honest B-level pro’s such as Matthew Macklin, Daniel Geale and David Lemieux while still in third gear.

Back then, if you knew you knew. GGG fans used to get genuinely excited in the days leading up to one of his fights from 2012 to 2015 as you were almost guaranteed to see something special.

Bernard Hopkins is in the Boxing Hall of Fame. And Golovkin tied 'The Executioner' – a modern legend - for the most consecutive middleweight title defences in history, with 20.

Public perception isn't always truth and character matters more than opinion.

As that old rascal Iago said in Othello as he tried to comfort the disgraced Cassio, "Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving."

Bottom line - Golovkin was too good to languish on the Ballot and deserves his flowers.

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