GOLOVKIN VS DEREVYANCHENKO AND THE HARSH REALITY OF BOXING
MOST athletes believe they won’t get hurt in competition. Boxers know they will. When Oscar De La Hoya was nearing the end of his storied ring career, he offered a stark assessment of the risks inherent in the trade he’d chosen.
“I hate getting hit,” De La Hoya said. “Getting hit hurts. It damages you. When a fighter trains his body and mind to fight, there’s no room for fear. But I’m realistic enough to understand that there’s no way to know what the effect of getting hit will be 10 or 15 years from now.”
Boxers are not like ordinary people. They court danger and have a tolerance for pain that most of us think we can imagine, but can’t. That harsh reality was on display when Gennadiy Golovkin and Sergiy Derevyanchenko met in the ring at Madison Square Garden on October 5, 2019, in a fight that will be long remembered as a showcase for the brutal artistry of boxing. Derevyanchenko, now 36 years old, was born in Ukraine and lives in Brooklyn. He had roughly 400 amateur fights in the Ukrainian amateur system, which gave him a wealth of experience but also put considerable wear and tear on his body. He turned pro in 2014 and, prior to facing Golovkin, had a record of 13 wins against 1 loss, with 10 knockouts. The loss came in his one outing against a world-class opponent – a 115-112, 115-112, 113-114 split-decision defeat at the hands of Danny Jacobs.
Derevyanchenko is soft-spoken with a brush haircut,
