Boxing News: Gennady Golovkin running out of patience to fight Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez
Unified middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin cannot wait to fight WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, with “GGG” insisting for the battle with the Mexican redhead to happen as soon as possible.
Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) is impatient about fighting Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) following the WBC’s presentation of the latter’s title belt in Mexico City. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya was quoted by the WBC’s Twitter account, saying Alvarez “wants to fight GGG,” which immediately earned a reply from the undefeated Kazakh, “Why wait?”
Unfortunately, Golovkin will have to wait until September before he gets a chance of squaring against Alvarez in the boxing ring. Both fighters are set to take on voluntary title defences of their belts, with Alvarez on the Cinco de Mayo weekend, while Golovkin on April 23 at the Madison Square Garden.
However, according to Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24, Golovkin should not be too optimistic of fighting Alvarez this year, with De La Hoya expected to let the potential superfight of 2016 heat up first.
“It would be in Golovkin’s best interest not to become optimistic on fighting Canelo because it won’t be surprising if Golden Boy Promotions pulls the rug out from under that fight this year, and instead lets it marinate like Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he would do if he were the one in charge of Canelo,” Ambrose wrote. “Mayweather has already beaten Canelo once in his career in 2013, and if he gets beaten by Golovkin, it will be a huge defeat for Canelo.”
Meanwhile, Golovkin is reportedly leaning toward a unification bout against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) for the Kazakh’s return in the boxing ring. Earlier this month, K2 Promotions reportedly offered Saunders $4 million to fight Golovkin, but the British middleweight insisted he wants more money on the table or cede to fight him in England.
According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, if Golovkin wishes to pursue Saunders for his next bout, K2 Promotions must complete a deal with Saunders’ manager Frank Warren before Jan. 19, or the IBO will have the Kazakh knockout artist have a mandatory title defence against Tureano Johnson.
