Gennadiy Golovkin W12 Sergiy Derevyanchenko... This time, Gennadiy "GGG" Golovkin got the benefit of the doubt from the judges.  In a grueling and exciting middleweight bout, 37 year-old Golovkin barely defeated Sergiy Dervyanchenko by decision to capture the vacant IBF title. Derevyanchenko suffered a flash knockdown in round one and a very bad cut over his right eye in round two, but after that, he won over the Madison Square Garden crowd by taking the fight to Golovkin. There were many hard punches landed, with Golovkin appearing hurt a few times, but still having great success with his jab. In a very difficult fight to score, Golovkin received a unanimous verdict by tallies of 115-112 (twice) and 114-113. Boxingtalk had Derevyanchenko winning 114-113 but given Golovkin's recent hard luck scorecard experiences vs. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, perhaps he was owed some karmic payback.  

Although the crowd booed after the decision was read, promoter Lou DiBella said it best: "no one was booing GGG. You can’t boo GGG. They were booing a decision that they just didn’t think was fair."

Golovkin is now 40-1-1 and holds the IBF title that Alvarez vacated because he failed to come to terms with Derevyanchenko, the IBF mandatory contender, before the IBF's deadline. When Alvarez was stripped, the IBF offered Golovkin and Derevyanchenko the opportunity to fight for the vacant title, and the two Eastern Europeans put on a great show in New York City on Saturday. Alvarez still holds the WBC and WBA middleweight belts but decided to challenge Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight title next month. Should Alvarez return to middleweight, he owes Golovkin a third fight because Golovkin arguably bested Alvarez twice in fights scored a draw and a win for Alvarez.  If Alvarez abandons the middleweight division, then Golovkin certainly owes Derevyanchenko (13-2 but more accurately 36-3) because he had many pro fights in the World Series of Boxing a rematch. Derevyanchenko looked so good that, without a belt, it seems few middleweights will want to test him. source: dazn