Gennady Golovkin

Gennady Golovkin holds the highest KO percentage in middleweight boxing championship history at over 90%.

As an amateur Golovkin fought at the 2003 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok, winning the gold medal by beating fighters such as Matt Korobov, Andy Lee and Lucian Bute.

A Kazakh, he fought in the 2004 Summer Olympics as a middleweight boxer and won the silver medal. By the time he reached 33-years-old, Golovkin had never been knocked down or knocked out, both in the amateurs and in his pro career.

Gennady Golovkin's tough beginnings

'GGG Boxing' was born to a laboratory assistant Kazakh mother and coal mining Russian father. When he was eight-years-old his brothers pushed him into the ring. They both later joined the army.

By the time he turned 14, both of Golovkin's brothers were killed in action, without a funeral. The fighter has said he used this tragedy to propel him forward towards success. One memory Golovkin has of his brothers is when they'd take him out onto the streets, picking out men for him to fight.

GGG Boxing's remarkable record

In 2006 Golovkin turned professional and by the time he won the vacant WBO Intercontinental Middleweight Championship in Germany by a round 2 knockout in 2009, he had won 17 fights.

Only two of those fights had gone the distance and since then only one more of his 32 victories has come without a stoppage.

In 2010 Golovkin defeated Milton Nunez by a round one knockout to attain the interim WBA World Middleweight Championship. He went on to cement his name into world boxing when he was promoted to WBA Regular Champion after Felix Sturm was promoted to Super Champion by the WBA.

In 2014 the WBA promoted Golovkin to the status of Super Champion.

Golovkin has won and defended a variety of honours, including the interim WBC World and IBO World Middleweight titles.

Golovkin v Murray

In February 2015 Golovkin defended his world titles against the English middleweight Martin Murray. The pair fought in Monaco and the fight almost went the full distance, Murray finally being stopped by a round 11 TKO. The St Helens fighter had already been put down twice in the fourth and once in the tenth round.

As it approached the later rounds, the fight became less competitive, with Golovkin clearly far ahead on the cards. Murray showed incredible heart in the bout, however, and left with the crowd's respect, if with nothing else.

Golovkin v Monroe Jr

May 2015 saw Golovkin improve his record to 33-0 (30 KO) when he registered a 20th consecutive knockout win against American southpaw Willie Monroe Jr.

Golovkin v Lemieux

In October 2015, the Kazakh KO king faced arguably his most dangerous test to date against hard-hitting Canadian and reigning IBF World Champion David Lemieux. Golovkin schooled underdog Lemieux, however, and didn't once look in serious danger as he scored his 21st consecutive KO win with an eighth round TKO.