By Matt Wood: Gennady Golovkin is one boxing’s most promising and exciting new fighters. He had a huge 2013, with four wins that were good enough to earn him Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year. While these fights were convincing enough to get many of us thinking that GGG is the best middleweight in the world, they were over competition that, while admirable, wasn’t great. At 31, he still has his best years ahead of him, but he’s not exactly a young man anymore, and we’d like him to spend his prime putting it on the line and fighting champions, not the Osumanu Adamas of the world.
Golovkin has been quiet lately due to the death of his father and his return to his native Kazakhstan. While we offer him our condolences during this period of mourning, the fan in us can’t help but be wonder what awaits upon his return. With that said, let’s look at where his current trajectory could lead him over the next year.
The latest possibility is a mega-fight with Julio Ceasar Chavez Jr on July 12th, backed by Bob Arum. The bout would be PPV (of course) and at Chavez’s weight class of 168. This would undoubtedly be the biggest payday of Golovkin’s career career thus far, and Chavez would be the biggest name on his resume. We can assume Chavez won’t throw any catch-weight Golovkin’s way given his recent trouble making weight. But he did look sharp and in shape in his last fight with Brian Vera, and him in the ring with Golovkin would be very entertaining.
I for one hope the fight happens and will leave the details of the matchup for another conversation. Let’s fast forward and assume GGG gets the win, what next? Chavez has no belt at 168, so Golovkin wouldn’t have to defend anything at super middleweight. He would surely hear even more calls to square off with the great super middleweight Andre Ward, but he’s indicated that he wants to clean up the middleweight division before moving up.
If there’s one guy we know Golovkin wants, it’s Sergio Martinez, who’s set to face Miguel Cotto on June 7th. Any possibility of seeing Golovkin vs Martinez depends on how Sergio performs against Cotto. The majority opinion seems to be that it’s Martinez’s fight to lose. If he’s fully recovered from his injuries, he should be able to take care of business against the smaller Cotto. But if he can’t move like he used to or his 39-year old body sustains an injury during the fight, Cotto is certainly dangerous enough to win. If anything like the latter happens, there’s no way Sergio will risk getting in the ring with GGG. If Martinez wins and looks like his old self, he and Golovkin will both be coming off summer fights and their schedules will be well aligned to set up a fight in late 2014.
A couple of other names we’ve heard are the Cuban Erislandy Lara and the Daniel Geale of Australia. Lara called out Golovkin last month, but much to our dismay boxing politics reared its ugly head once again and squashed any chance of that happening. Golovkin has a contract with HBO, while Lara fights with Golden Boy/Showtime. The same conflict disqualifies Peter Quillin, currently the WBO middleweight champion. I don’t know the details of Golovkin’s HBO contract, but I hope that when it expires he and his team can negotiate something more flexible in terms of what banner he can fight under.
The Daniel Geale fight, on the other hand, seemed like it could happen, but the PPV broadcaster in Australia had a scheduling conflict with a UFC fight on the agreed upon date. Geale apparently didn’t want to take the risk and time to fight a guy as dangerous as Golovkin without a PPV audience. He did sound sincerely disappointed, however, so it could happen down the road.
Outside of these big names, there are some worthwhile fights on the international scene. A citizen of the world, Golovkin has fought in Monaco, Germany, and Ukraine in the last few years, so he’s shown that he’s open to fighting in unfamiliar territory. Martin Murray is an accomplished British middleweight who narrowly lost to Sergio Martinez last April, and is coming off a tough win against Sergey Khomitsky. If he’s willing to roll the dice, he could have a big spotlight in London or Manchester.
Then there’s the German Felix Sturm, currently the IBF Middleweight title holder. This could be problematic though, as Golovkin has fought in Germany in the past and suffered from promotional issues that allegedly blocked him from a shot at Sturm in 2010. Now that Golovkin has made a name for himself, however, maybe rational minds will prevail.
Let’s hope Golovkin gets to stay busy in 2014 and can get the right shots to unify the 160 belts before moving up. He has a wealth of fresh opportunities at 168, but I understand why he wants to tame the middleweight division before stepping up a weight class.
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