EXCLUSIVE New champ Callum Smith urges Gennady Golovkin to move up to super-middleweight

Callum Smith

NEW WBA world champion Callum Smith has encouraged Gennady Golovkin to step up to super-middleweight.

Smith defeated George Groves on Friday in Jeddah and has returned to England as the number one in the 168lbs division and World Boxing Super Series winner with a very bright future at the highest level of the sport.

โ€œHeโ€™s a massive name,โ€ Smith said of Golovkin. โ€œIโ€™m sure financially it would be good and a win over him is still a massive win. Even though heโ€™s just lost, a lot of people didnโ€™t think he did and it was a good fight. Heโ€™s had two very high profile fights with Canelo. Iโ€™d go as far to say heโ€™s still the biggest name possible for me to fight. I think heโ€™s a bigger name than the other light-heavyweights and the super-middleweights.โ€

If Groves hadnโ€™t been fit to contest the Super Series final, Smithโ€™s trainer Joe Gallagher had suggested Golovkin be invited in as a replacement. โ€œI was thinking, Donโ€™t you like me, Joe?โ€™โ€ Callum laughed.

But now, after stopping Groves inside seven rounds, Smith would welcome the opportunity to fight Golovkin at super-middleweight. โ€œI think he would get people praising him doing it. But I think heโ€™d get a bit of criticism for doing it because heโ€™ll do it now but he wouldnโ€™t do it when [Andre] Ward wanted him to, that kind of thing. He was saying he didnโ€™t want to move up then, now he might move up. People might say, โ€˜Whatโ€™s different now than then?โ€™ But possibly I think he could. Heโ€™s a good fighter.โ€

callum smith

But Smith added, โ€œThereโ€™s a lot of middleweights who could move up. I could move up eventually. Thereโ€™s a lot of fights in around the weight division. Chavez [Junior] is back fightingโ€ฆโ€

One light-heavyweight whom Smith knows well is WBA world champion Dmitry Bivol. The two have fought before, in 2012 when they were amateurs. Bivol won that, a semi-final of the Bocskai tournament in Hungary, and Smith is keen to settle the score. โ€œA Bivol rematch would be good. We had a good fight in the amateurs. Heโ€™s a good fighter,โ€ he said. โ€œI remember boxing him thinking heโ€™s decent. He didnโ€™t box then how he does now, he throws decent body shots now. It was a good close fight.

โ€œYou didnโ€™t really see many of the top people you fight in the amateurs in the pros whereas now youโ€™re starting to see more of them, more and more of the Russians and Ukrainians are turning over. Whereas you never used to see them two years ago.โ€

There are big fights ahead of him, even if itโ€™s difficult to say now exactly what they will be. โ€œItโ€™s hard to predict, you never know. A new star could be born in a year who Iโ€™ve never heard of now or a top middleweight could move up to super-middle. Itโ€™s hard to predict,โ€ Callum said.

First of all he wants to cement his place at the number one in the 168lbs division. โ€œThe weight isnโ€™t killing me at the minute,โ€ he said. โ€œIn the ring I felt good, I felt strong, my energy levels were good. I donโ€™t think Iโ€™ll move up any time soon. Thereโ€™s a lot I want to achieve at super-middle.โ€

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