By Dan Ambrose: Gennady Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2n Promotions is looking to potentially setup a fight between Golovkin and his #1 IBF mandatory challenger Tureano Johnson (19-1, 13 KOs) for April 23rd at Madison Square Garden in New York, if they fail to get a unification fight against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) next.
That’s the fight that Golovkin and Loeffler want most of all right now for their next bout, but it’s doubtful that they’ll be able to get the fight. Loeffler made an offer to Saunders for a unification match, and they’re waiting to fight out if Saunders and his promoter Frank Warren will agree to the offer.
“We’ve had preliminary talks,” Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez said to ESPN.com. “It’s GGG’s mandatory fight and it’s a fight we’d like to make.”
Golden Boy promotes Tureano Johnson, and they would have a good thing if they can have their fighter Tureano fight Golovkin next, and then match another one of their fighters WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) against Golovkin in September. Of course, we’re not really certain just how serious Golden Boy and Canelo are in wanting to fight Golovkin. But it’s clear that Golden Boy is interested in at least matching Tureano against Golovkin, that much is clear. Tureano needs a title shot because he doesn’t have a lot of directions to do in.
It’s highly unlikely that Golden Boy would let Tureano fight Canelo because of the risk to Canelo that fight would bring. Tureano is a real middleweight unlike Miguel Cotto, the fighter that Canelo just beat last November. Canelo used his weight advantage to win what appeared to be a close decision, even though the judges scored it to Canelo by a wide points decision.
The International Boxing Federation would allow Golovkin to bypass the Tureano fight if he can get the unification fight against Saunders, according to Dan Rafael.
Canelo will be fighting next on May 7th against an opponent still to be determined. If Canelo wins his fight on 5/7, and Golovkin beats his opponent two weeks earlier on April 23rd, then there’s a decent chance that Canelo will be facing Golovkin in September on the Mexican Independence holiday. That’s what Golden Boy is talking about, and it’s the fight that Goloivkin badly wants to happen. If Canelo decides not to take the fight with Goloivkin, then either he’ll be stripped of his WBC title by the World Boxing Council, or there’s a small chance that the WBC will allow Canelo to bypass the Golovkin fight again.
It would be troubling if the WBC allows Canelo another voluntary defense in order build up the Golovkin fight even more, but I won’t be surprised at all if that’s what happens. I really don’t think there’s going to be a fight between Golovkin and Canelo in 2016, nor in 2017. I think it might take Golovkin to start showing signs of age before he can get a fight against Canelo, and even then, I think he’d have to agree to a catch-weight of 155lbs in order to get the fight.
Tureano looked good in his last fight in beating Eamonn O’Kane (14-2-1, 5 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in an IBF middleweight title eliminator on the undercard of the Golovkin vs. David Lemieux fight card on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York. Johnson knocked O’Kane down twice in the 1st round and won the fight by the scores of 118-108, 117-109, and 119-107.
I believe that Tureano could be an even tougher fight for Golovkin than Canelo, as Johnson has a very high work rate with excellent punching power. He doesn’t tire out and need breathers the way that Canelo does. Johnson can fight hard for 12 rounds without needing to go rest on the ropes the way that Canelo typically does. Turenao, like Golovkin, has Olympic experience in fighting in the 2008 Olympics.
Saunders said recently that he wants big money for a unification fight against Golovkin. The kind of money that Saunders wants just isn’t realistic right now for Golovkin. Even if Golovkin was as popular as someone like Floyd Mayweather Jr., he likely couldn’t come up with the big money that Saunders wants to fight him.
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