PLANS are in motion for WBC, WBA and IBF world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to meet WBO king Billy Joe Saunders in his next fight.
‘GGG’ outpointed Danny Jacobs in a close fight this past weekend and afterward claimed a clash with the unbeaten Brit is his “dream fight“.
Saunders has frequently expressed his desire to fight the Kazakh destroyer and his promoter, Frank Warren, is working on getting the bout made.
“Golovkin-Jacobs was a fantastic fight and I thought Golovkin won it by a couple of rounds. Having said that, I can understand why people say it was a closer fight than that because some of the rounds were very close but the way I scored it I made Golovkin the winner,” Warren told Boxing News.
“We’re trying to make that fight [Golovkin-Saunders] but whether we can get it done I don’t know. I thought there were some things that will encourage Bill in that fight, when Jacobs turned southpaw that was when he was most successful. Bill’s a big middleweight and obviously a southpaw and Bill’s tough, he’s got a good chin. It’s an intriguing situation but we’ve got to get it over the line.
“We are talking and we’ll see where it goes.”
The two sides are working on a date in June and the fight is most likely to land in Kazakhstan as a part of Expo 2017. Before the Jacobs fight Golovkin’s promoter, Tom Loeffler, denied that a deal to fight Saunders was already in place.
Though he prevailed against Jacobs on the cards, some have criticised Golovkin’s performance in New York and point to times in the fight when he was frustrated by Jacobs’ movement and boxing.
Warren, however, was impressed with the 34-year-old and is aware of the challenge he poses for Saunders.
“The thing is with Golovkin, when he wants to he can box. He’s got a fabulous jab, when he was using his jab he was superb,” he said.
“For me, a good boxer will always beat a big puncher but the thing is with Golovkin, he’s got both. He’s one of those guys, he’ll take a couple of shots to land one of his own and it can make him look vulnerable but his confidence comes from the fact that once he lands he can take you out.
“Jacobs really rose to the occasion and made a much better fight of it than I thought he would and no one could complain if they made a rematch.”
