Gennady Golovkin did not put on his best performance in a narrow win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and the 37-year-old from Kazakhstan was bothered by negative fan reception after the fight.
Golovkin won a unanimous decision over Derevyanchenko, receiving scores of 115-112 from two judges and 114-113 from another. Judge Kevin Morgan actually scored it six rounds to six, but Golovkin got one extra point thanks to a 10-8 round in the first from a knockdown.
Golovkin was booed by the fans at Madison Square Garden after the fight and had a hard time conducting his postfight interview on DAZN as a result.
Golovkin seemed to feel the fans were not giving Derevyanchenko enough credit for being a tough opponent.
GGG is now 40-1-1 (35 KOs), while Derevyanchenko is 13-2. The win opens a path for a third fight between GGG and Canelo Alvarez. Canelo fights Sergey Kovalev in November.
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