By Eric Baldwin: A fight between IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) and WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) is said to be on the verge of being announced in the next week or two. It’s being said that Golovkin will fight Saunders in his native Kazakhstan, which is an unusual location for the fight.
Golovkin has been fighting mostly in the U.S lately, and it would seem like the smarter move by him to continue to do so. What’s kind of surprising is that Golovkin is looking past his March 18 fight against WBA World middleweight champion Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) to take the fight against Saunders.
A lot of boxing fans are giving Jacobs a fair chance of beating Golovkin after the way that he struggled in his last fight against welterweight Kell Brook on September 10 in 2016. Golovkin stopped Brook in round 5, but he was hit a quite a bit in that fight. For Golovkin to be already scheduling a fight Saunders, it looks like he and his management see the victory over Jacobs as a forgone conclusion. There might be another reason why Team Golovkin to schedule a fight against Saunders this early.
Golden Boy Promotions have been interested in having their fighter Saul Canelo Alvarez challenge Saunders for his title. The only reason that fight wasn’t scheduled for May 6 was because Golden Boy put together a fight between Canelo and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. That’s a much bigger fight than Canelo-Saunders. However, if Golovkin’s management didn’t put together a deal with Saunders, then Golden Boy could snatch Saunders and stick him in with Canelo in September instead of having him fight Golovkin.
I think a lot of boxing fans don’t see Golden Boy making the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight in 2017 anyway. Having Saunders as an option for Canelo would make it easy for Golden Boy to steer around that fight for another year.
Vargas said this to Hustleboss.com about his thoughts on Golovkin:
“It’s really hard to pick anybody against Triple G,” said Vargas. “Triple G has that power. I think it’s the ultimate denominator. Any punch can end a fight. He’s also playing to the Mexican fans, playing Mexican music, and getting the Mexican fans behind him. I definitely think he’s a force.”
When asked what Jacobs needs to do for him to beat him, Vargas said, “You’ve got to box, like how Oscar [De La Hoya] did against [Felix] Tito Trinidad. Box his ears off like that. That’s the only thing I can say. Unless a fighter can stand there and fight with him, and I’ve not seen that yet,” said Vargas.