Golovkin should forget Canelo if fight isn’t made in 2017

By Boxing News - 12/10/2016 - Comments

Image: Golovkin should forget Canelo if fight isn’t made in 2017

By Dan Ambrose: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and his management need to focus only fighting guys that are prepared to get inside the ring with him when asked. Golovkin has wasted too much time in his career with trying to get fights against Saul Canelo Alvarez, Daniel Jacobs and Billy Joe Saunders.

That’s time wasted. Golovkin has got to give his promoter Tom Loeffler marching orders to forget about guys that aren’t willing to fight him within three to four months, because he doesn’t have enough time left in his career for him to be spending time trying to get fights against Jacobs, Saunders or especially Canelo if they’re not ready to get inside the ring with him pronto.

What Golovkin doesn’t need is to find out in September of next year that Canelo isn’t going to fight him because of one reason or another. My guess is Canelo won’t fight Golovkin next year, and I think Golden Boy will have an excuse about GGG not wanting to agree to the eight-figure offer they gave him. Why would Golovkin ever agree to a flat fee offer rather than a percentage deal? It doesn’t make sense.

Canelo Alvarez – Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has been sounding like a broken record this year in saying that Canelo will absolutely fight Golovkin in September 2017. We’ve already seen how Canelo steered around Golovkin once this year. How is Golovkin supposed to believe that Canelo is serious when he already vacated his WBC title in order not to fight him? I say that Golovkin should be more like Floyd Mayweather Jr. in being the one that calls the shots rather than Golden Boy, Canelo and De La Hoya. That means that Golovkin tells Canelo that if he wants to fight him, then they should face each in March or April. Forget about May or September. If Canelo doesn’t want to take that fight with GGG, then he should just tell Golden Boy, ‘Thank, but I’m moving on permanently.’ Believe me, if Golovkin does this, I think Golden Boy would jump at the chance at making the fight with Golovkin before the window closes forever for Canelo.

Daniel Jacobs – This is another fighter where Golovkin needs to give a take it or leave it fight over. First off all, Golovkin should vacate his WBA title, because he can’t bargain if he’s being put in a position where he could be forced to fight Jacobs in Brooklyn and on Showtime rather than HBO Boxing if Loeffler loses the December 19 purse bid. The way to take Jacobs’ leveraging power away from him is by vacating the WBA title and focusing on the IBF and WBC titles.

Billy Joe Saunders -This is a fighter that Golovkin has already spent too much time trying to get a fight against him. The only reason Golovkin is interested in fighting Saunders is because he’s got the WBO middleweight title. Never the less, the boxing public doesn’t care whether Golovkin wins yet another title. They already see him as the best fighter in the middleweight division. Winning another title isn’t going to change the perceptions of the fans to where they suddenly see Golovkin as being even better than he is now. The fans only make a big deal when fighters win against quality guys that they know about and respect. That’s why Golovkin should make one attempt to get the fight against Saunders in 2017. If he drags his feet at the idea of fighting him, then Golovkin shut just forget about Saunders and move on.

If Golovkin becomes more willing to walk away from these fighters to go it alone in choosing to fight guys that are actually willing to fight him, he might in turn eventually get Canelo, Saunders and Jacobs to fight him. But like I said, if they’re not willing to fight GGG in 2017, then he needs to forget about them, because it would seem obvious at that point that they’re just waiting for Golovkin to get old before they fight him. That’s not good for Golovkin to let fighters pick him off when he’s an old man rather than them fighting him now.

Here are some of the fighters that Golovkin can focus on instead to fight:

– Jorge Sebastian Heiland

– Toreano Johnson

– Sergey Derevyanchenko

– Ryota Murata

– Alfonso Blanco

– Andy Lee

– Chris Eubank Jr.

Those are good guys that Golovkin could be fighting. He doesn’t need to waste years trying to fight Canelo, Jacobs and Saunders. If I’m Golovkin, I would set a deadline for Canelo, Saunders and Jacobs to fight him. If they were to fail to meet the deadline, then I would move on permanently and not look bad. I think it would be a great move on GGG’ part to get those fighters out of his hair once and for all by finding out how serious they are in wanting to fight him.

Golovkin has to realize that for him to be the A-star, he needs to start acting like one by calling the shots with all of his opponents and giving them ultimatums. That means Canelo, Jacobs and Saunders should sign to fight Golovkin in 2017 otherwise no fight in the future. It’s good business sense for Golovkin to let his opponents know that so that he can filter out the ones that are serious from the ones that are just playing games and name dropping.