By Dan Ambrose: WBA Super World middleweight champion Daniel Geale has reportedly been stripped of his title by the World Boxing Association for not fighting Gennady Golovkin, according to Steve Kim on his twitter. Golovkin, 30, is expected back in the ring on January 19th on HBO, says Kim. There’s still no opponent picked out for him, however, and it’s not looking good in terms of Golovkin fighting a well known fighter that boxing fans care about.

If Golovkin can’t get a well known opponent like Peter Quillin, Sergio Martinez or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to fight him we might have to settle for seeing Golovkin fight one of the contenders the WBA has ranked. I’d be happy to see Golovkin fight someone like Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam or Dimitry Pirog if none of the big names want to fight him.

Here are the options for Golovkin:

Andy Lee
Marco Antonio Rubio
David Lemieux
Martin Murray
Matthew Macklin
Felix Sturm
Sebastian Zbik

Lee or Macklin would be ideal, because both guys come to fight and would be looking to slug it out with Golovkin. Sturm is probably an impossibility because he’ll likely be positioned to go after Geale or Quillin, because both of those guys are a little easier options than Golovkin

Golovkin is trying to make a name for himself in the United States after having spent the first five years of his pro career fighting out of Germany. Golovkin could have stayed fighting over in Germany and had it pretty easy with some match-making for most of his career, but he wanted to fight the best fighters in the sport and make a name for himself worldwide and not just in Germany. It’s too bad he wasted the five years in Germany because Golovkin would be a lot better known in the U.S by now had he spent those years fighting there.