By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is conflicted about whether it would be a positive thing if welterweight Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) defeats WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight on May 7.
While Golovkin says it would be interesting to have a new WBC 160lb champion in Khan, he thinks it would be bad because of Khan not being a real middleweight and lacks the size of normal fighters in the division.
Golovkin thinks 155 is a good weight for Khan, and he believes he could be a better fighter at this weight than he was at 147. However, he still doesn’t think that Khan would be a real middleweight, and that would be a problem for him and for the division.
“This is like 50-50. Good and not good,” Golovkin said about Canelo-Khan fight to Fighthype. “This is a business plan. I’m a boxer. I am not a business man. It’s good [if Khan beats Canelo] because he’s the new heavyweight champion. But it’s bad because he’s small. He’s not a real middleweight champion. Anybody has a chance. To Amir, it’s a little bit better. 155, I think is better for him. Canelo is a great champion. He’s big and strong,” said Golovkin.
Thanks to everyone who participated in today's #GolovkinWade press conference today in #NYC Lets get in the ring! pic.twitter.com/UyBfvKPZdC
— Gennady Golovkin (@GGGBoxing) February 18, 2016
It would be bad for Golovkin if Khan beats Canelo because it would almost surely mean that the two fighters would face each other in an immediate rematch. I don’t think Khan would worry too much about having to vacate the WBC middleweight title in order to make the Canelo rematch possible. Khan would likely give up the title in a second in order to get a second big payday against Canelo.
The WBC might even allow Khan to keep the WBC title and steer around Golovkin so that the rematch between the fighters would appear more meaningful with a title on the line. If the WBC didn’t let Khan defend the WBC title against Canelo, then you can bet that the WBC would have one of their many other titles up for grabs. I could see them dusting off their WBC Diamond or Gold titles and have one or both of them on the line for the Khan-Canelo rematch. The casual boxing fans wouldn’t care what title was on the line. They would just be interested in seeing Canelo and Khan go at it once again.
When asked if he thinks Canelo will fight him, Golovkin said “It’s a good question. I’m ready for Canelo. Canelo is a smart guy. He’s got experience. He has experience with Floyd [Mayweather Jr]. He’s the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound. Canelo lost to him. Right now, he brings new experience. He understands the situation. He needs more chance. Everybody understands the situation. He is middleweight champion. Middleweight is 160, not 155. If he wants to fight at 155, then bring new ID, not belt in middleweight division. It’s new story. I like old school. I want one great champion at middleweight. You want different weight at junior middleweight. Sure, you bring new belt, new story with new contract. My focus is at 160 at middleweight,” said Golovkin.
When asked if he would fight other fighters like Canelo at 155, Golovkin said “Just Floyd.”
That kind of closes the door on a catch-weight fight between Golovkin and Canelo. Unless Canelo stops asking for a catch-weight for his fights, it doesn’t look like we’re going to ever see a fight between him and Golovkin. If Golovkin won’t change his mind about not wanting to fight at a catch-weight, then he’s going to need to wait until Canelo feels comfortable at fighting at the full weight for the middleweight division.
Judging by some of Canelo’s recent comments, it doesn’t seem like he’s entirely comfortable at fighting at 160 yet. The good news is Canelo is still growing and filling out as a fighter. He’s likely going to be at a point in the near future where he’ll need to fight at the full weight for the middleweight division.
Canelo could also wind up skipping the entire 160 and eventually moving up to 168. He’s already fighting at what appears to be the 180s. Draining from the 180s to 155 has got to be extremely hard on Canelo’s body whether he wants to admit it or not. It would be a pity if he never winds up fighting Golovkin.
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