(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Dan Ambrose: WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) needs at least one big victory over a named opponent for him to become a mega-star, according to his trainer Abel Sanchez. He feels that the casual boxing fans are starting to recognize who Golovkin is after seeing him a number of times on HBO.
The hardcore boxing fans have known about Golovkin for a considerable amount of time. But what Golovkin needs is a victory over one of the big names like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Miguel Cotto, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for him to get to the next level.
The problem for Golovkin is to get one of those guys to fight him. Canelo, Cotto, Mayweather and Chavez Jr haven’t dared get in the ring with Golovkin, and it’s likely that some if not all of them will choose to stay away from him for their entire careers.
With Mayweather, you can’t really blame him for not fighting Golovkin, because Mayweather is really a small welterweight and he has no business fighting a guy Golovkin’s size. But Canelo, Cotto and Chavez Jr have no excuses for not fighting Golovkin, because all of them come into their fights close to 170 or above that.
“It’s getting to the point where the casual boxing fans are beginning to notice him [Golovkin],” said Sanchez to UCNlive. “The hardcore fans already know him. But it’s going to take one significant fighter, one of the bigger names, to sign a contract and step inside the ropes and get knocked out like the rest do that have been getting knocked out. Then he’s for real for the casual fans. If that happens then that will be the kind of fight that will make him a mega-star,” Sanchez said.”
Golovkin might need to be content with building his name without any of those fighters facing him. He also might also fail to get the other notable middleweights like Daniel Jacobs and Peter Quillin to fight him, because neither of them have shown any hints of wanting to share the ring with him.
Golovkin might be able to get a crack at Matt Korobov if he’s able to beat Andy Lee next December, but that’s not a big fight for Golovkin. It’ll enable him to pick up the WBO middleweight title if Top Rank allows Korobov to fight him, but that’s still big if.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has talked recently about being open to letting Korobov fight Golovkin, but there’s no telling whether Arum is just name dropping or not by using Golovkin’s name to get publicity for Korobov.
One thing Golovkin has going for him is he’s got a chance to pick up the vacant interim WBC middleweight title tonight if he can beat Marco Antonio Rubio in their fight at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. If Golovkin can pick up the interim WBC 160 pound title, then he’ll be in a position to fight the winner of the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight next year.
If the winner of that fight chooses to vacate the WBC title rather than fight Golovkin, then that will give Golovkin the opportunity to win another world title at 160 to show boxing fans he’s the No.1 guy in the division. Golovkin might have to fight someone like Martin Murray or Matthew Macklin to pick up the WBC title, but that shouldn’t be a problem for Golovkin. Those guys are likely no better than Rubio.
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