Given recent events, it's hard to not see why Steve Rolls feels good about his upcoming fight against Gennadiy Golovkin.
Less than a week ago, Madison Square Garden, the host venue for Golovkin's DAZN debut against Rolls, was also the place where Andy Ruiz Jr. shocked the world and stopped Anthony Joshua to become the new unified heavyweight champion. Fast forward a few days later and Rolls is also thinking about pulling off a major upset at MSG.
During a recent media conference call, Rolls was asked about what seeing Ruiz beating Joshua did to his confidence heading into the fight and the way people look at this matchup just days away.
“I definitely think it caught the interest of a lot of boxing fans and a lot of boxing critics. I think with what happened last week, it makes this fight much more intriguing and I think people are a lot more excited to see what happens on June 8. I don’t think people are just considering me as just a write-off like they were before. Now people are starting to think, ‘Hey, you know what? This is a live fight.’ I think it’s gonna be great,” Rolls said.
While the matchup may carry some parallels to the Joshua-Ruiz fight, a heavy underdog whom casual fans are mostly unfamiliar with against a dominant fighter from across the Atlantic at Madison Square Garden, the dynamics of the fight is almost night and day to the prior fight.
Rolls may be taking on one of the most dominant middleweights of the 21st century in Golovkin, but he will be taking on a seemingly-different Golovkin than what most fans are accustomed to seeing. Golovkin is now trained by Johnathon Banks, replacing long-time trainer Abel Sanchez. Although Rolls had been studying up on Golovkin and looking at his previous fights, the fact that Banks is now in his corner does throw a wrench in everything because he doesn't know what to entirely expect from this Banks-trained Golovkin.
Despite that wrinkle in the buildup to the fight, Rolls believes that he is still good enough to adjust on the fly and take care of business come June 8.
“We checked a lot of tape on Golovkin, especially in the last Canelo fight. Golovkin is a Hall of Famer, one of the most dominant middleweights within the past few eras. We could have seen something [in the tape] and he could have made any adjustments as he got a new trainer. That might not be there for me Saturday night, but we have plan A, B and C and like [trainer Tommy Howat] was saying before, I know I have the ability to adapt in there. We’ll focus on what Golovkin does well and hopefully take that away from him,” Rolls said.
Golovkin vs. Rolls will headline a boxing card from Madison Square Garden in New York on June 8 that will be streamed on DAZN in the United States. Fightful will have live coverage of the main event.
