Perhaps the sport’s most feared fighter, middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin has built a powerhouse reputation by demonstrating a willingness to take on any challenge and displaying an intriguing array of skills, highlighted by stunning knockout power.

The Kazakhstan native makes his 2015 U.S. debut when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: GENNADY GOLOVKIN VS. WILLIE MONROE JR. AND ROMAN GONZALEZ VS. EDGAR SOSA is seen SATURDAY, MAY 16 at 10:00 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the historic Forum in Inglewood, Cal., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will be ringside to call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: May 17 (9:45 a.m.) and 18 (11:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: May 17 (3:30 p.m.) and 19 (11:15 p.m.)

In the 14th defense of his middleweight crown, Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29 KOs), originally from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and now training at Big Bear, Cal., meets Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1, 6 KOs) from Ithaca, NY, in a scheduled 12-round contest. Currently boasting a knockout victory streak of 19, Golovkin has taken the boxing world by storm with an extraordinary knockout-to-win ratio of better than 90%. No opponent has gone the distance with him since Nov. 2008, and he began 2015 by battering and eventually knocking out the formidable Martin Murray on Feb. 21. His 2014 fights ended in the seventh, third and second rounds. Trained by the highly regarded Abel Sanchez, Golovkin will be making his eighth appearance on HBO since his auspicious network debut in Sept. 2012.

Willie Monroe’s top accomplishments as a pro include a victory against the previously undefeated Brandon Adams to win the 2014 Boxcino Middleweight Tournament final, and defeating the hard-nosed Brian Vera this past January, while his only loss came more than four years ago via a close split decision. The slick southpaw faces the toughest test of his career in what will also be his first 12-round contest.

The opening bout is a spectacular flyweight attraction, as 112-pound rising star Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (42-0, 36 KOs) of Managua, Nicaragua meets Edgar Sosa (51-8, 30 KOs) of Mexico City in a 12-round title bout. Gonzalez has become a consensus top-ten pound-for-pound fighter and looks to extend his knockout streak to eight. Crafty veteran Sosa has a history of accepting difficult challenges.

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The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Johnathan Evans.

® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.

Los Angeles, CA (March 24, 2015) Boxing fans around the world eagerly anticipating the return of Boxing Superstar GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN received more great news with the announcement that “Pound For Pound” flyweight star ROMAN “Chocolatito” GONZALEZ will face Mexico’s EDGAR SOSA in the 12-round co-feature on Saturday, May 16 at the Forum and televised Live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

“I’m very happy to have Roman fight on my card on May 16 at the Forum and on HBO,” said Golovkin. “He is a great fighter and I’m glad boxing fans will be able to watch him fight on the same night as I do.”

“Pound For Pound” is headlined by Golovkin’ s World Middleweight Championship clash with #2 rated and undefeated challenger WILLIE MONROE.

Golovkin and Gonzalez are both consensus pound-for-pound entrants in the international boxing media. “GGG” is currently ranked #5 “Pound For Pound” by ESPN.com and #9 by Ring Magazine while “Chocoladito” is ranked #4 by Ring Magazine and #7 by ESPN.com.

A formal press conference with both fighters will be held next week in Los Angeles for the Roman Gonzalez—Edgar Sosa matchup.

“This is a great opportunity for me to make my HBO debut and in front of a great crowd at the Forum,” said Gonzalez. “I’d like to thank everyone for making this happen and promise to put on a spectacular show on May 16 against Edgar Sosa.”

Said Sosa, “I know this is a big fight for Gonzalez but I will be well prepared on
May 16 for victory and to shine in front of the huge crowd at the Forum and those
watching on HBO.”

The Gonzalez-Sosa bout is presented by K2 Promotions and Teiken Promotions in association with Zanfer Promotions.

Tickets for “Pound For Pound”, priced at $300, $200, $100, $60 and $30, are now on-sale through Ticketmaster (Ticketmaster.com, 1-800-745-3000) and the Forum Box Office.

“With each of Gennady’s fights we want to provide the best event possible for the fans” said TOM LOEFFLER of K2 Promotions.

“Boxing fans have wanted to see Roman fight in the United States and this fight against Edgar Sosa should provide a lot of fireworks.”

Fighting out of Managua, Nicaragua, the 27-year-old Gonzalez, long a favorite among hardcore boxing fans, has compiled a record of 42-0-0 with 36 knockouts over his ten-year career.

Currently the holder of the World Boxing Council (‘WBC’) Flyweight Title, Gonzalez is riding a seven-bout knockout streak, most recently stopping Valentin Leon in the third round on February 28 in Managua, Nicaragua.

The former WBC Junior Flyweight World Champion, Sosa enters the contest against Gonzalez with a record of 51-8-0, having won a 10-round shutout unanimous decision over Carlos Melo on November 8, 2014 in Petionville, Haiti.

Among the top victories on the 35-year-old Sosa’s ledger are wins over Brian Viloria, Giovanni Segura, Ulises Solis, Omar Soto and Sonny Boy Jaro.

On December 6, 2013, Sosa traveled to Toyko, Japan challenging WBC Flyweight World Champion Akira Yaegashi, losing a very hard fought and close 12-round decision.

“Pound For Pound” is presented by K2 Promotions and GGG Promotions in association with Banner Promotions and the Forum.

SOCIAL MEDIA: For more information, visit www.K2Promos.com, www.GGGBoxing.com, www.Banner-Promotions.com, www.FabulousForum.com and www.HBO.com/boxing.

Follow on Twitter at Gennady Golovkin @GGGBoxing, Willie Monroe Jr. @WillieMonroeJr, Roman Gonzalez @ChocolatitoBox, Edgar Sosa @EdgarSosaChamp, Tom Loeffler/K2 Promotions @TomLoeffler1, Banner Promotions @BannerBoxing, the Forum @theForum and HBO Boxing @HBOBoxing and become a fan on Facebook www.facebook.com/GGGBoxing, www.facebook.com/WilieMonroeJrFanPage,
www.facebook/BannerPromotions, www.facebook.com/TheForum and www.facebook.com/HBOBoxing.
Use the hashtags #GolovkinMonroe and #GonzalezSosa to join the conversation on Twitter.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, undefeated Flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez will take on Edgar Sosa in the co-feature on a HBO World Championship boxing double header that will feature Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight title defense against Willie Monroe Jr. at the Forum in Inglewood, California on May 16.

“For a long time we’ve had our eye on bringing ‘Chocolatito’ to our subscribers as we do with any of the fighters considered to be the best in the world,” HBO Sports vice president Peter Nelson told ESPN.com before Tuesday’s news conference at the Forum to announce the card. “Architecting a plan to achieve this came to fruition finally with the vision of Tom Loeffler and Mr. Honda, who saw this opportunity to bring two of the sport’s planetary forces together on one show.”

“My philosophy is to try to provide the best fights for the fans that we can make whether or not the fighters are with K2,” said K2’s Tom Loeffler. “We showed that when he worked with Top Rank to put Nonito Donaire against Nicholas Walters on Gennady’s card [in October]. The opportunity arose to put on Roman Gonzalez and have him in the U.S. on HBO. It is the perfect complement to having Gennady in the main event.

“I think Roman Gonzalez is in the exact same position we were in before Gennady fought on HBO in 2012. He was a hard-core fight fan favorite. A lot of people had seen the Internet videos of him, but nobody had really seen him live. Then he made his HBO debut and he has grown tremendously in popularity. Roman Gonzalez is in the same position now. Once he is able to show the American television audience on HBO what he can do, he is going to become a fan favorite as well.”

“I’m very, very excited about this,” Nelson said. “I think it’s a great fight, which is the linchpin to all of this. But in addition to the quality of the fight there is quality to the card in having both Gennady Golovkin and ‘Chocolatito’ on the same show. It was something that immediately brought lights to the eyes to those we revealed this plan to.”