Skip to content
Home » Debate rages over who is known as the real Heavyweight GGG

Debate rages over who is known as the real Heavyweight GGG

  • by
  • 3 min read

A debate rages on in Kazakhstan over who claims the title of the Heavyweight GGG as the most prominent top division puncher in the land.

World Boxing News released a previously published story about which Kazakh took the label initially: Ivan Dychko.

The former Olympian has won twelve fights straight by knockout in the weight class. He had spent fewer than seventeen minutes demolishing his opponents before taking the ten-round distance last time.

This latest win, a distance triumph over Kevin Nicolas Espindola, raised doubts. However, the second fighter holding the title is Zhan Kossobutskiy.

Due to Zhan getting taken six rounds far earlier in his career, many say he should take the crown.

Heavyweight GGG

Dychko’s previous feat had earned him the moniker from some fans. But since then, other Kazakh boxing enthusiasts – including some Golovkin fans, have stated Kossobutskiy deserves the honor.

A 33-year-old southpaw battering ram from Kostanay, Kossobutskiy is the man they believe is the biggest hitter of all Kazakh’s heavyweight stars.

He is tipped to win the world heavyweight championship by 2025. The major heavyweights like WBC ruler Tyson Fury and WBA, IBF, and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk could see a changing of the guard in the next couple of years.

Ranked above Dychko at number one, Kossobutskiy has halted all but one of his eighteen opponents, the last of which was the most impressive.

Zhan took out former Deontay Wilder foe Johann Duhaupas in five rounds. He’s also stopped Polish veteran hardman Kamil Sokolowski, a notorious stickler for going the distance and giving up-and-coming fighters problems at his peak.

Sokolowski has fought 29 times as a pro, and Kossobutskiy became only the third man to stop him with a final round ending.

Going the distance with bruisers like Lucas Browne, Nathan Gorman, David Price, Martin Bakole, and others, only Dillian Whyte and Gorman himself could get the job done early.

Nick Webb, a man tipped as a British champion, was one of six previously undefeated heavyweight stars beaten by Sokolowski.

Zhan Kossobutskiy

So the fact Kossobutskiy was able to finish him bodes well for a future rise to the top end of the weight division.

Joey Dawejko, who gave Anthony Joshua trouble in sparring, also got wiped out in two rounds.

Seven of his wins have come in the first round, with a few more in the second. And only one man, Sokolowski, saw the seventh round when reaching the tenth.

It seems Kazakhstan has a conveyor belt of sluggers coming through. With the top six of eight registered pros currently undefeated.

Between them, Dychko and Kossobutskiy hold 30 wins and 28 stoppages. But as WBN has been made aware, Kossobutskiy is seen as the best heavyweight of the duo.

He’s the contender who could make the most significant impact, the quickest at the upper limit. With an average weight of 235 lbs, around 106 kg, Zhan could drop down to bridgerweight if he desired.

Cruiserweight would be a push too far, though.

A triumph over Guido Vianello when an amateur boxer certainly doesn’t tell us the whole story from a 12-4 vested record either.

Furthermore, the proof will be in the future pudding. Another GGG, though? – There may only ever be one of those.

Golovkin returns this weekend in his trilogy fight with Canelo Alvarez.

WBN Editor Phil Jay has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews and Twitter @worldboxingnews.