Golovkin
World champion Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan reacts after defeating Martin Murray of England during the WBA-WBC-IBO Middleweight World Championship in Monte Carlo, early February 22, 2015. Golovkin defended his title, defeating Murray in the 12 rounds. Reuters/Eric Gaillard

Unified middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin is staying focused for his upcoming bout against IBF belt mandatory challenger Dominic Wade amid the growing hype of the fight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Amir Khan.

Golovkin is trying not to get distracted by the highly anticipated match between Canelo and Khan in May as the undefeated Kazakh gears up for his own bout against Wade on Apr. 23 at the Forum in California. Golovkin seems to be in no rush to meet the 25-year-old American in the boxing ring, as he focuses on preparing for his upcoming bout.

However, according to Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24, Golovkin could be having a hard time staying focused on his fight with Wade, with the possibility of GGG facing the winner of Alvarez and Khan in September being a much bigger deal.

“It’s hard obviously because the fight against the 25-year-old Wade is such a minor one compared to the Canelo fight,” Ambrose wrote.

“Golovkin doesn’t even know if the Canelo fight will take place, which makes things even harder because there’s a lot of talk that Canelo will choose to sidestep Golovkin in order to continue to make easy money fighting opposition that his wise owl promoter Oscar De La Hoya is setting up for him.”

Last month, K2 Promotions managing director confirmed that the Golovkin vs Wade bout had already sold half of the event’s tickets. But Golovkin’s fight would still likely be undermined by the numbers of the Canelo vs Khan bout, which is gaining steam in the world of boxing after the two launched their presser in London.

There is also the uncertainty over whether Golovkin will ever get to fight the winner between Alvarez and Khan, with both fighters likely to sidestep and avoid the Kazakh in a possible match later this year.

If Khan wins, a rematch with Alvarez is most likely the next scene for the Bolton welterweight, despite claims from Golovkin’s camp that the Kazakh has already signed a contract for a potential Golovkin vs Khan bout. But if the 25-year-old Mexican comes up victorious in May, there is still no guarantee a Canelo vs Golovkin super-fight would happen, although Alvarez has insisted the fight would be inevitable.

“It could be made this year, it’s very probable,” Alvarez said, reports Boxing News Online. “It depends on the negotiations.”

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