By Jeff Aranow: WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders could be facing IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in a unification fight in the summer if Golovkin wins his next fight against Daniel Jacobs on March 18.
Saunders is supposed to be facing a very dangerous opponent in #1 WBO Avtandil Khurtsidze in his next fight, but could give him a step aside feel so that he can get out of that fight temporarily.
Golovkin vs. Saunders fight is being talked about for June. That would give Golovkin plenty of time to be ready for a fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for a mega-fight in September if the two fighters’ promoters can negotiate the fight. That’s a fight that the boxing world wants to see.
“If he beats Jacobs, yes, that is probable, against BJ Saunders to unify all the titles. Then GGG hopefully in September,” said Dan Rafael on his chat. Yes, but they are working on a step-aside deal,” said Rafael about Saunders possibly steering around the Khurtsidze fight.
Saunders will get a bigger payday fighting Golovkin than he will in the Khurtsidze fight. That fight is arguably too dangerous for Saunders to risk taking because if he loses to the hard hitting Khurtsidze, then he can forget about a big payday against Golovkin or possibly Canelo. Right now, Golovkin is the likely opponent for Saunders’ next fight.
It would be Canelo, but he’s got a match against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6. Saunders can’t sit around until later this year to face Canelo. He needs to fight. Canelo will need at least three to four months to recover from his May 6 fight against Chavez Jr. The earliest that Canelo will be back inside the ring is in September, and that’s much too long for Saunders to wait.
Golovkin wants to collect all the titles in the 160lb division and the World Boxing Organization belt held by Saunders is the last remaining title not in his possession. Golovkin has talked about possibly moving up to 168 once he wins all the titles at 160, but he’s likely to stay at 160 long enough for him to face Canelo.
Once Golovkin gets that fight out of the way, then we might see him move up to 168. There will be no one else for Golovkin to fight if he stays at 160. At least if Golovkin moves to super middleweight, he’s got interesting fights against James DeGale, George Groves and Gilberto Ramirez. There are also big fights against some of the light heavyweights that Golovkin could potentially get.