Golovkin was ‘ill all week’ but kept it quiet before ‘brutal’ victory over Derevyanchenko, says Hearn

GENNADY GOLOVKIN’S under-par performance against Sergiy Derevyanchenko was down to a bout of illness, Eddie Hearn has claimed.

The all-action encounter on Saturday night saw the judges side with GGG – 114-113, 115-112 and 115-112 over 12 rounds.

Even though Golovkin won on a unanimous decision, the Kazakh looked a shadow of his former self at stages of the fight.

And promoter Hearn shed some light on his performance by revealing that he had been feeling “ill all week”.

Matchroom chief Hearn told IFL TV: “It was one of the best fights I’ve seen. It was brutal. Derevyanchenko – unbelievable.

What Gennady had to go through tonight, the well he had to go through, he showed much heart.

Hearn On GGG

“He won’t say it, but Gennady has been ill all week, and it’s been a real struggle for him, and he’s kept it quiet.

“He won’t even say anything, but I will, because even though Derevyanchenko deserves all the respect in the world, what Gennady had to go through tonight, the well he had to go through, and he showed much heart.”

Downing the Ukrainian 33-year-old handed Golovkin, 37, the vacant IBF and IBO middleweight titles.

And Hearn paid tribute to Derevyanchenko for taking GGG all the way through 12 rounds in New York.

He added: “Derevyanchenko was absolutely brilliant.

“In the 1st round I was thinking, ‘An early night and an easy touch’. I really fancied that Derevyanchenko would be really difficult in this fight, moving well with Andre Rozier having a great game plan.

“But after the first round, I thought, ‘what a result, this is going to be all over’. And he just came back.

“Very close fight. I just spoke to Keith Connolly, and he said, ‘Oh, we won that fight.’ It was a very close fight.

“I actually had Gennady winning the last two rounds to make the difference for Gennady to nick the fight.”