By Dan Ambrose: Mexican star Juan Manuel Marquez says there are people who specifically want IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin to move up in weight to the super middleweight division (168) so that he can avoid fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Marquez doesn’t say who the people are that want Golovkin to move up in weight, but in the media there are a number of fighters and ex-fighters that want Golovkin to move up to 168 and 175. Marquez doesn’t see any point in Golovkin moving up in weight if he’s still comfortable at fighting at 160.
It’s unclear why so many people want Golovkin to move up one and even two divisions to fight at 168 and 175. They see Golovkin knocking everyone out at 160, and they figure he needs to fight bigger guys so that he can get more competitive fights.
It doesn’t make sense for Golovkin to move up in weight when he’s not exhausted all the potential fights at 160. There are at least two more fights available to Golovkin in the middleweight division that is worth taking against Billy Joe Saunders and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
If Golovkin cannot get either of those fights, then it definitely would be in his best interest to move up to 168 at the minimum to fight the best fighters in that division. Fighting at light heavyweight might be tougher for Golovkin, because he’s really little more than a junior middleweight in size. Golovkin rehydrates to 170. That’s the same weight the top junior middleweights rehydrate to.
“Everyone wants him to move up but he [Golovkin] feels good,” said Marquez to ‘Golpe a Golpe’ ESPN about Golovkin. “He does not have trouble making weight. Now why they want to move? If he is a natural middleweight why would he go to super middle? He has to do if needed. If it doesn’t suit you, then stay at middleweight and have big fights,” said Marquez. “Face ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, who is also a good and brave warrior. Fight Canelo,” said Marquez.
There’s really no one for Golovkin to fight at 168. Even Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez isn’t a big name at super middleweight. He holds the WBO 168lb title, but he’s not well known in the U.S. A fight between Golovkin and Ramirez would likely be a big step down from his fight against Kell Brook in terms of money and notoriety.
A fight between Golovkin and Ramirez wouldn’t be a big deal in the U.S. If Golovkin moves up in weight to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, it’s probably not a fight that would sell either. Chavez Jr. is now a part time fighter at this point in his career. Ever since Chavez Jr’s loss to Sergio Martinez in 2012, he’s fought infrequently. It’s too bad, because he could have been a much bigger name than he is now if he had kept fighting three times a year.
“People want to see Gennady Golovkin against Canelo Alvarez, but they will not do it,” said Marquez. Now they want Golovkin to move up to super middleweight so the fight can be avoided.”
Marquez didn’t say who wants Golovkin to move up to 168 to avoid Canelo.
I think it’s pretty clear that if Golovkin moves up to 168 or 175, it might be used as an excuse for certain fighters not to fight him, because they can then say he’s a super middleweight or a light heavyweight. Further, it would make it harder for Golovkin to move back down to fight at middleweight against a big name. He would obviously need to put on weight in order to fight at 168 and 175, and that weight would need to come off if he moved back down. We saw how drained Golovkin looked in making weight for his last fight against Kell Brook last September.
Golovkin only had to lose 10 pounds to make the 160lb limit, and yet he looked badly drained and not particularly healthy from having taken off the weight. I think if Golovkin does move up to 168 or 175, he would effectively be closing the door on big fights against Canelo Alvarez and other top guys.
Golovkin is better off waiting to see if he can clean out the middleweight division before he moves up in weight. If Canelo is not going to fight him, then Golovkin should close the book on that chapter of his life and move on. If years from now, Canelo and Golden Boy start chirping about wanting the fight with him, Golovkin should just ignore them and not put himself through more potential mind games. Golovkin needs to fight guys that are actually serious about wanting to fight him. If someone wants to wait him out until he’s old before fighting them, then he should forget about them and let them know that they had their chance to fight him and they blew it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slPN1jZyrXA