By Jeff Aranow: Former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin could be moving up to super middleweight to challenge WBA Super World 168 lb champion Callum ‘Mundo’ Smith (25-0, 18 KOs) for his title in May at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England.
A 10 lb rehydration clause would make the Golovkin vs. might fight fairer. Even with the rehydration clause, Golovkin would be at a disadvantage in terms of weight. Golovkin rehydrates to 170 to 173 lbs for his fights at middleweight. Smith looks to be in the mid-180s when he rehydrates for his fights at super middleweight. Golovkin will still be much lighter than Callum even with a 10-lb rehydration clause in effect to keep him from weighing more than 178 lbs on the morning of the fight.
Callum arguably should be fighting at 175 in the light heavyweight division. Somehow, Callum is able to melt down to 168 to make weight for the super middleweight division. Callum is basically a light heavyweight though. That’s what makes Smith so good. He’s just a lot bigger than his opponents. Golovkin should be fighting at 154 though, because he only rehydrates to 170 for his fights. So for Golovkin to fight Callum, he’ll be fighting someone three divisions bigger than him. It’s a fight that will be a nightmare for Golovkin no matter you want to twist it.
Golovkin would look brave in taking on Callum Smith for his WBA ‘Super’ 168 lb title in May, especially if he’s willing to face him in front of his hometown boxing fans at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England. Smith is the best of the super middleweights in the minds of many fans. In contrast, Saul Canelo Alvarez is moving up to super middleweight to face WBA ‘regular’ champion Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) on December 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Fielding is the WBA secondary champion, whereas Callum is the upper level champion. Canelo’s choice of picking the lower level champion Fielding is seen as a weak move on his part by fans. Canelo’s new 5-year, 11-fight, $365 million contract with DAZN makes it unnecessary for him to take the same kind of risky fights as Golovkin. So instead of Canelo fighting Callum Smith and risking his neck, he’s selected an arguably weaker champion in Fielding to pad his record by winning a third division world title. Canelo has already won world titles at 154 and 160. Winning a third division belt at 168 would help Canelo’s legacy, but obviously not in a big way.
Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport says he’s already been in talks with Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler about putting the GGG vs. Callum fight together for May in Liverpool.
Golovkin, 36, lost his last fight to Saul Canelo Alvarez by a 12 round majority decision on September 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. While some boxing fans believe the fight could have been either a win or a draw for Golovkin, there’s no question that he took a lot of heavy punishment at the hands of Canelo. Golovkin suffered a cut eye and his face was swollen afterwards.
Hearn is more hopeful than certain that he can make the Golovkin vs. Smith fight for next May. The problem that Hearn has is Golovkin wants a trilogy fight with Canelo. That fight probably won’t take place in May of next year, but it doesn’t make sense for Golovkin to move up to super middleweight, and take a big risk fighting a guy that will likely outweigh him by 15 lbs on the night in 6’3″ Callum.
“Whether he wants to take that risk before a possible third Canelo fight, I don’t know,” Hearn said to skysports.com. “I think it’s a fight that fills Anfield. It’s a great profile fight, it’s a great fight,” Hearn said.
Anfield Stadium in Liverpool seats 54,078 fans. That’s Smith’s backyard basically, so it would put Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) at a tremendous disadvantage. Not only would Golovkin be outweighed by as much as 15 lbs and be facing fighter much younger, bigger and fresher than him in 28-year-old Smith, it would also put him in a situation where he’s fighting in front of a hostile crowd. Golovkin might find himself in the same situation he’s been forced to deal with in fighting Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas, Nevada, with crazy scoring by the judges in both of his fights.
The last thing that Golovkin needs right now is to fight another opponent in which he’ll probably need a knockout to get the victory. If this was the only option the 36-year-old Golovkin had for a payday, he and his promoter Tom Loeffler would likely grab the fight with both hands, but that’s not the situation here. Golovkin can make a heck of a lot more money fighting Canelo Alvarez in a trilogy fight, and possibly get the fight in neutral territory in New York. If Canelo is feeling guilty about how the Nevada judges scored his first two fights with GGG, he might be receptive to facing him in Los Angeles, California, New York or Texas. It’s unclear whether Golovkin would get better judging fighting Canelo in Los Angeles or Texas, but at least there’s a chance the third fight what be scored better. Golovkin already knows what he’s going to get if he goes back to Nevada.
Golovkin might end up being an underdog against Callum if that fight is made. It would be a really risky fight for GGG to take right now, given the huge payday he would be risking against Canelo. If Golovkin loses to Smith, he’ll jeopardize his much sought after third fight against Canelo. Golovkin will still likely get the trilogy fight against Canelo anyway, but he would probably wind up seeing his purse split for the fight drop to as low as 80-20. Canelo will still face Golovkin if the boxing public demands the fight, but the money GGG can make for it won’t be nearly as well as it would be if he goes into the match on the back of a nice knockout win. It won’t be easy for Golovkin to knockout a fighter like Callum Smith. It’s possible that Golovkin can win the fight if his power travel up to super middleweight.
It’s not a good thing for Golovkin to be taking on the best super middleweight in his first fight in the division. Golovkin would be stepping into the unknown in facing Smith in front of a big crowd at Anfield Stadium. It’s understandable why Hearn is so eager to make the Smith vs. Golovkin fight. His guy Smith would have all the advantages in the fight. Smith is younger, bigger, stronger, fresher and would be fighting in his own backyard. You have to wonder whether Hearn would be nearly as excited if someone from a division above Smith’s weight class was calling him out. Would Hearn be eager to have Smith fight WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, IBF champion Artur Beterbiev or WBC champion Adonis Stevenson? It’s unlikely that Hearn would pull the trigger on any of those fights for Callum, because he wouldn’t have a big size advantage against those guys. Smith would be taller than Bivol, Beterbiev and Stevenson, but he wouldn’t have the weight or necessarily the power advantage.
Smith isn’t as big of a puncher as some boxing fans think. He wasn’t able to knockout kickboxer Nieky Holzken in the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament earlier this year in their fight in February 2018. Smith still won the fight by a comfortable 12 round unanimous decision, but he clearly struggled against the 34-year-old.