Gennady Golovkin: ‘Maybe after Saturday, Canelo is ready’

Gennady Golovkin

IT seems reasonable to ask whether we will ever get to see Gennady Golovkin fight Saul โ€œCaneloโ€ Alvarez. This year seemed to be the perfect time, the WBC even mandated for Canelo to fight โ€˜GGGโ€™. The Mexican though vacated the title and dropped just a pound to go back down to the super-welterweight division. Golovkin has had to bide his time.

After his latest victory, Gennady said next he wanted โ€œfirst of all Billy Joe Saunders or Caneloโ€.

It was unclear though whether Golovkin was confident of ever actually nailing down a clash with Canelo, whether it be next year or the one after. All he would say about getting the Alvarez fight was:ย โ€œHopefully. I hope in the future. Maybe after today, heโ€™s ready. I hope seriously. I want this fight.โ€

Gennady’s latest challenger Kell Brook stepped up from welterweight. He didnโ€™t hurt Golovkin but he did find the openings for punch combinations as well as excellent uppercuts. The Kazakh insisted he didnโ€™t feel weight in those blows but Kell caught Golovkin far more frequently than the vast majority of his challengers and even obliged Gennady to take a backwards step, a rare feat. That might have caught Canelo’s eye.

โ€œKell Brook was hitting him clean, he was hitting him with uppercuts, a lot of combinations. For me itโ€™s never great to see him get hit clean like that but at the same time Iโ€™m sure a lot of fighters saw that and said, โ€˜Well if Kell Brook can do it, maybe I can do it.โ€™ And maybe thatโ€™ll given them some courage now to actually sign a contract,” said Tom Loeffler, Golovkinโ€™s promoter. “Itโ€™s a double-edged sword. If Gennady is so dominant nobody wants to fight him, it just makes it even more impossible to make the fight. So itโ€™s definitely a two-way street.โ€

Brookโ€™s promoter Eddie Hearn added, โ€œCaneloโ€™s running from him. Itโ€™s none of my business but as a fan I want to see Gennady Golovkin against Canelo. Itโ€™s the biggest fight in world boxing. How can you ignore that fight and vacate your belt?โ€

Golovkin would consider moving into a higher weight division at some point, but feels he has unsettled business at middleweight. โ€œI have a dream. My goal is all the belts in the middleweight division. After yes, seriously,โ€ Gennady said. He might be forced to move up if the big fights for him remain so elusive.

โ€œIf we canโ€™t get the unification fight, if we canโ€™t get another top name, I told Eddie, the James DeGale fight would be a great fight over here. We tried to make the Carl Froch fight a while ago, that would be a great fight,โ€ Loeffler said.

Golovkin’s mission continues.

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