By Dan Ambrose: Gennady Golovkin says he’s only thinking about his scheduled fight against Vanes Martirosyan on May 5, and not looking past him towards a rematch with Saul Canelo Alvarez on September 15. Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) wants the rematch with Canelo, 27, but he needs to want to take the fight as well.
There are some things that may need to change before Golovkin and Canelo face each other in September in the biggest fight in boxing on HBO PPV. There’s a chance that the contract will need to be redone for the fight given that their May 5th fight was canceled after Canelo (49-1-2, 34 KOs) tested positive for a banned substance and then subsequently pulled out of the fight.
Then there’s also the drug testing. Canelo will need to be tested. It’s unclear whether Canelo is being tested now up until the start of the training camp for the rematch.
Golovkin and Martirosyan met with the media on Monday at the Glendale Fighting Club in Glendale, California. They answered questions about their upcoming fight on May 5. Not surprisingly, Golovkin was not interested in talking about Canelo.
“Canelo? Right now he is over,” Golovkin said to ESPN.com. “Do I want to have the rematch in September? We’ll see. It’s a different deal. I’ll fight Canelo again. Ask him if he wants to fight me.”
Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) wants the rematch with Canelo to clear up their controversial 12 round draw from last September on HBO PPV, but the fight is not available right now given the Mexican star failed 2 drug tests for clenbuterol.
According to Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, the Mexican star DOES want to fight Golovkin in a rematch in September, and he says he’s going to pound him. Canelo doesn’t have much choice. If he wants a big payday, he’ll fight Golovkin in a rematch. If Canelo and Golovkin don’t fight in September, then the redheaded star might get stuck facing one of Golden Boy’s fighters Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan or David Lemieux. The boxing public doesn’t want to see Canelo fighting either of those guys, and it’s going to make him look like he’s swerving the better fighters at 160 if he faces opposition of that quality. Golovkin, 36, is fighting Martirosyan next, who fans see as a weak opponent, but he has an excuse for taking that fight, because he needed an opponent to replace Canelo.
Golovkin only had 3 weeks to find a replacement, and he wasn’t going to fight a good fighter like Sergiy Derevyanchenko or Demetrius Andrade. With the little time that Golovkin had before the fight, it would have been too risky to face either of them with just a short period of time to get ready.
“I no longer think about Canelo,” Golovkin said. “I am only focused on this fight. The boxing business is crazy. I just want to fight Vanes. I remember him from the 2004 Olympics. I know he is not easy. Vanes is a strong and active fighter in the ring. He is a good fighter. Vanes is a real guy. A real fighter. He is tall and strong. In 2004, I thought Vanes was the best boxer on the U.S. Olympic team.”
The fans don’t think Martirosyan will give GGG any kind of fight. They see this as a walkover for the Kazakhstan fighter. Unfortunately, it’s a no-win situation for Golovkin, because the boxing public notes that Martirosyan is a junior middleweight, and he hasn’t fought in 2 years. Martirosyan has also lost two out of his last three fights. With the fans thinking this is a mismatch, Golovkin isn’t going to get the credit he deserves if he beats Martirosyan on May 5.
Golovkin is expected to win in style and look good in doing so. If he fails to destroy Martirosyan, it’ll be a disappointment to the fans.
Unlike Golovkin, who won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics, Martirosyan didn’t capture a medal in that competition. Martirosyan was eliminated in his second fight of the Olympics in losing to Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros of Cuba by a 20-11 score.
After Canelo pulled out of the May 5 rematch, Golovkin could have waited until June to fight, but he wanted to remain active. Golovkin didn’t want to wait until June or September before he fought again. Martirosyan’s promoter Don King offered the fight to Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler, and he agreed on it.
Martirosyan is moving up 2 weight classes to fight Golovkin, and he’s coming off of a 2 year layoff from the ring. It’s never easy for a fighter to return from a long layoff like that, but to face the unified middleweight world champion Golovkin puts Martirosyan in a near impossible position. Martirosyan has never displayed the talent that would suggest that he can beat a fighter like Golovkin. Martirosyan doesn’t have the size, power, chin or pedigree to win this fight. The only thing that the boxing public can hope for is Martirosyan is able to make it competitive for as long as it lasts.