Buy Sean Jones: Trainer Andre Rozier says IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be stripped of his International Boxing Federation title if he doesn’t face his IBF mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) within 90 days. In fact, that’s exactly what Rozier expects to happen.
Rozier says Golovkin will likely be fighting Saul Canelo Alvarez on September 15 after the Mexican fighter’s 6-month suspension expires, and the IBF will strip GGG of his title for failing to face his mandated opponent Derevyanchenko. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler is currently trying to get another exception for him to go around Derevyanchenko, but it remains to be seen whether the IBF will grant him that. The IBF already let Golovkin fight Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 without stripping him for not facing Derevyanchenko.
Rozier thinks Golovkin is just trying to make as much money as he can while he can, and the best way to do that is for him to face Canelo Alvarez in a rematch. The two fighters made a lot of money last September in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite the controversy surrounding the Canelo-GGG fight being scored a 12 round draw, the judges helped both guys out by scoring it that way instead of giving one of them a win.
With the fight being scored a draw, GGG (38-0-1, 34 KOs) and Canelo don’t have a loss on their record from that fight, and now there’s even more interest in their rematch than there was the first time around due to the bad blood. That’s the positive from the results from the first Canelo vs. vs. Golovkin fight.
“Triple G is looking to make as much money as possible, and Canelo is emblazoned in his steroid scandal, and he is now suspended,” Derevyanchenko’s trainer Andre Rozier said to 78SportsTV. “His suspension will be ending in time for him to participate in a bout in September, and I believe Triple G will be fighting him in September, because that’s where the big money is. But if Triple G doesn’t fight Sergey in his next fight, that’s been mandated in 90 days, then he will be losing the IBF strap. It will be stripped from him,” Rozier said.
It won’t be a problem if Golovkin is stripped from him by the IBF. It would only be problem if he were to have a tough time lining up a fight with Derevyanchenko, if he’s the one that winds up with the IBF middleweight title. It’s not going to be like that though. If Golovkin beats Canelo in September, then he’ll likely go after the WBO middleweight belt held by Billy Joe Saunders. If Golovkin wins that fight, then he can swing back and pick up the IBF belt from Derevyanchenko. Golovkin can probably have all the middleweight titles in his possession by mid-2019, unless he chooses to fight Canelo a third time by facing him in May of 2019.