What’s next for Gennady Golovkin?

By Jonathan Gonzalez - 01/04/2016 - Comments

Boxing: Golovkin vs LemieuxBy Jonathan Gonzalez: Following a pretty good year in 2015, the “God of War” GGG is on the lookout for a potential opponent to start off his 2016 campaign. After unifying the IBF and WBA titles in his last fight against Lemieux, there’s going to be a demand for an opponent of a higher caliber. The goal is to always keep moving forward and maintain the reputation he’s built as the boogey-man of the middle weight division and critics are always so hard to please.

There have been a few names slung around in the past few weeks, but nothing solid. There aren’t too many names in the division that create the kind of spark that comes from a super fight matchup. A showdown with WBC champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez looks to be made in the latter half of 2016 if the stars align perfectly for both warriors, which is why the selection of an interim opponent is important to keep momentum going for Golovkin.

A few of the primary names that come up when discussing GGG’s next dance partner are Billy Joe Saunders, who recently captured the WBO title from Andy Lee in a jab and pose contest that only excited in the 3rd round, and Daniel Jacobs, the WBA ‘regular’ champion that recently left Peter Quillin dazed in a first round demolition. However, neither champion has shown an overall eagerness to step up to the plate and become GGG’s next sacrifice, which is disappointing because they both have good chances at competing with the Kazakh warrior.

The rest of the middleweight landscape is filled with prior Golovkin victims that no one wants to see repeat beatings of, but there are a few hopeful prospects to possibly satisfy fans. Tureano Johnson, who last fought on the undercard for Golovkin-Lemieux, looks to be in the running and would make a decent showing of himself that could be entertaining. Obviously, there are many fans that would love to see GGG take on Chris Eubank Jr., the kid can fight and is confident in his ability to take on the man at middleweight. Andy Lee is still around and showed a willingness to tangle with Golovkin in the past, although his performance against Saunders in December may not be the ideal choice, but it could still be an option.

Obviously, there are fights around the 160 lbs weight class that fans really want to see, such as a showdown against Andre Ward or James DeGale, but I don’t see those fights as being the most feasible to make at this point in time. Ward has stated his intentions to move up to 175 towards a potential showdown with Sergey Kovalev, and DeGale is still making his name (although the man can clearly fight and is showing good skills against anyone put in front of him). Besides, why not stick around middleweight and unify the titles to make history? B-Hop did it. Halger did it. Monzon did it. Whoever GGG chooses, let’s hope that 2016 continues to let his abilities shine and we can witness some exciting fights from one of boxing’s most exciting fighters.



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