Golovkin on his childhood and first steps in sports

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The undefeated Kazakh middleweight boxer, Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin has shared his childhood memories from and told about his way to boxing, reports Sports.kz.

"As a kid, I was keen on football. I'm still a fan of this sport. I played tennis a little, I used to play basketball because it was fashionable at that time. But fighting is important in our country. I tried everything I could without any hesitation. Most of all, I was interested in table tennis before I started boxing. One day, my older brother Sergey offered me to try boxing. He saw I was open to everything.

At one time, I was going to play football with my friends when he told me that a boxing club had opened in the town and I should go and see. I think he wanted me to learn how to fight because we lived in a rather harsh district of Karaganda. He often had to fight to be respected.

I fought almost every week against other guys on the streets in the neighborhood. Nearly every 2-3 days. For respect as well. Today I can say that I was probably the firmest boy in the district. Sometimes I fought older guys and easily won them," L'Equipe cites Gennady.