Gennady Golovkin was out to make a statement in his first world title fight in more than a year. That’s exactly what happened on Saturday night in New York, though the message might not be what the former unified middleweight champion had in mind.

The crowd-pleasing Kazakh known as Triple G was pushed like rarely seen before, looking every bit his 37 years in scratching through a heart-stopping challenge from the dogged Sergiy Derevyanchenko to regain the vacant IBF middleweight championship by a close but unanimous decision, a verdict that for Golovkin’s immense popularity left many in the Madison Square Garden crowd dissatisfied as they filed into the concourses. Ringside judges Eric Marlinski and Kevin Morgan scored it 115-112, while Frank Lombardi had it 114-113. (The Guardian scored it 115-112 to Golovkin.)

Gennady Golovkin defeats Sergiy Derevyanchenko for IBF middleweight title – live! Read more

It’s likely each man lost something he will never get back after these extraordinary 47 minutes, a gruesome exhibition of two-way action where Golovkin absorbed more blows than any previous fight in his career while Derevyanchenko’s eyes were bludgeoned to fissures, the grim toll of his relentless pressure approach. The fight of the year, surely, working both as a tribute to the sport and a reminder we’re insane for watching it.

“This is huge experience for me,” said Golovkin, the longtime champion who made a division-record 20 title defenses at 160lbs before a controversial defeat on points in last year’s blockbuster rematch with Canelo Álvarez. “Right now, I understand I need more focus [on] boxing. This was a tough fight. I need a little bit more. I need to still get stronger in my camp. Just more serious. I need to work hard. I need a little bit more focus.”

Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs), who went off as a 4-1 favorite, dropped Derevyanchenko with a left hand in the first round, then appeared bound for yet another win inside the distance after his 33-year-old opponent suffered a bad cut on his right eye in the second.

But Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs), perhaps confronting the gravity of the wound and sensing time was short, burst from his corner to start the third and immediately shifted the tenor with aggressive volume punching, rushing pell-mell into the pocket and letting his hands go with shots from a variety of angles. Having suffered his lone professional defeat when he fought for the same belt against Daniel Jacobs last November, Derevyanchenko, who featured alongside Vasyl Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk on Ukraine’s 2012 Olympic team, appeared hell-bent on not letting his second title shot go to waste.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gennady Golovkin knocks down Sergiy Derevyanchenko during the first round of Saturday’s middleweight title fight. Photograph: Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports

Golovkin was able to catch the swarming Derevyanchenko time and again with chopping shots on the way in, but Brooklyn-based Ukrainian was getting the better of the exchanges in the fourth. Both had their moments in the fifth but it was Derevyanchenko who took command late in the frame, caving in Golovkin’s rib cage with a devastating body shot that left the Kazakh breathless. (That referee Harvey Dock intervened for no discernible reason with Golovkin clearly hurt left the Derevyanchenko camp understandably furious.)

The bloodied Derevyanchenko continued to pour on the punishment with further dedicated body work in the sixth and by then was outboxing Golovkin, who was taking heavy breaths through his mouth and appearing to flag. Every time Golovkin was able to find purchase with a hook or an uppercut, Derevyanchenko was there to respond with flurries of punches to the head and body, never appearing to slow down. The back-and-forth exchanges pressed on into the seventh as both made their stands in the center of the ring, Golovkin doing his best work intercepting Derevyanchenko on his headlong forays.

Golovkin came on strong in the eighth, bouncing a series of punches off Derevyanchenko’s head as the crowd buzzed in anticipation for the finish. But he mysteriously let his foot off the gas and his opponent off the hook, allowing Derevyanchenko to resume scoring with angles and activity.

The fighters continued to trade hellfire into the championship rounds as Derevyanchenko threw with abandon to the head and body as Golovkin held his ground. But Golovkin overcame his obvious fatigue and showed a remarkable finishing kick in the 12th, snapping his opponent’s head back with clean and accurate punches to win the final frame on all three judges’ cards and seal the decision, re-capturing the IBF title he won from David Lemieux in a October 2015 unification fight before he was stripped of it last year for not fighting Derevyanchenko when he was the organization’s mandatory challenger.

“Right now it’s bad day for me, [but] it’s a huge day for Sergiy, his team,” said Golovkin, who landed 242 of 720 punches (34%) compared to 230 of 738 for Derevyanchenko (31%). “Right now I know what I need exactly. I lost a little bit of focus. Sergiy was ready. I really respect him. He showed me such a big heart. I told him, ‘Sergiy, this is best fight for me.’ I just respect his team.”

Both men were taken to the hospital immediately afterward for precautionary measures.

Never before Saturday night, not even in two signature encounters with Álvarez that many believe Golovkin won but which officially went down as a split draw and a majority-decision loss, was the Kazakh puncher made to look more vulnerable. It may indeed be down to age. After scoring knockouts of 23 consecutive opponents during a decade-long rise to the top of the sport, he’s been extended the distance in four of his last six outings. It’s been nearly four years since he stopped a world class middleweight. Yet those same signposts, however ominous, may be just what’s needed to entice Canelo, boxing’s biggest superstar, into green-lighting the hotly anticipated third installment that was shelved to the fans’ chagrin in 2019.

“Absolutely, I’m just open to anybody,” Golovkin said. “There are so many great champions here. Sergiy, a lot of guys. Everything is ready. Just call Canelo. If he says yes, let’s do it.”