By Mike Smith: Gennady Golovkin is now looking at a number of interesting fight options ahead of him now that he’s signed a lucrative nine-figure contract with DAZN to fight on their platform for the next 3 years in a six-fight deal. Not only is the former IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) set to make a great deal of money in the next three years, but he’s got some excellent fight options available to him now that he’s become one of the family at DAZN.
To be sure, it took a lot of thought and research for the 36-year-old GGG before he pulled the trigger to sign on with DAZN. This wasn’t a decision made overnight on the spur of the moment.
Golovkin did his homework, thinking long and hard before he made the ultimate decision to sign with DAZN. Not only has Golovkin looked out for himself and his family in signing with DAZN, but he’s also helped his fledgling GGG Promotions by including them in the deal to have two fight cards per year to be streamed on DAZN in 2020 and 2021. That’s a good deal for the promotional company, as it will give a lot of talented fighters a chance to be seen by millions of boxing fans potentially.
Here are some of the intriguing options available to the 36-year-old Golovkin to fight in his next six fights with DAZN:
– Demetrius Andrade: Golovkin will be fighting on June 8 or 16 in his first fight of his six-fight deal with DAZN. If the streaming giant insists on having nothing but tough fights for Golovkin for him to earn the big money they’re paying him, it’ quite likely that his first bout with DAZN will be against 31-year-old World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs), who is already scheduled to defend his title on June 22 at the Dunkin Donuts Center, in Providence. Whether that date and venue would change for a fight with Golovkin is uncertain if the two decide to face each other next. What is known is Golovkin probably wouldn’t like the idea of fighting the 2012 U.S Olympian Andrade in his hometown of Providence after what he just went through with his 2 controversial decision fights against Saul Canelo Alvarez. If Golovkin goes into Andrade’s home turf to fight him in front of his East Coast fans, there’s no telling what kind of results that could come from that type of fight. Andrade, 6’1″, is a tall southpaw with a slick style of fighting. He would likely be playing matador for the entire fight with Golovkin, and it might not be a great match to watch for boxing fans accustomed to seeing wars inside the ring. Golovkin vs. Andrade would be a game of cat and mouse for 12 rounds. It would be a bad fight as a prelude for a third match between GGG and Canelo. It might actually hurt interest in a third Canelo-Golovkin fight if GGG is made to look bad in beating Andrade by a decision after having to chase him the entire fight.
– Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. GGG III: This is a fight that is pegged for September of this year, as long as GGG and Canelo win their next fights. Golovkin is almost surely going to take a softer tune-up level fight for his next fight with DAZN on June 8 or 16th. That’s going to be someone that will be there for Golovkin to hit, and not a fighter that he’s going to have to run after for 12 rounds. It’s likely going to be a name guy that the casual and hardcore boxing fans are familiar with.
– Jaime Munguia: Most likely, Golovkin won’t get a chance to fight Munguia (31-0, 26 KOs) until after Canelo fights him first. Munguia, 22, is signed with Golden Boy Promotions, and they’ve made it clear that they’re building up the young Jaime for a fight with Alvarez. Although GGG came close to facing Munguia last year in May after Canelo tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol, a lot has changed since then. The Nevada State Athletic Commission rejected the GGG vs. Munguia fight last year due to the inexperience of the young Jaime, and the fact that he was fighting at 154. Since then, Munguia has captured the World Boxing Organization junior middleweight title with a fourth round knockout win over Sadam Ali. Munguia has defended the WBO title successfully three times already against lesser opposition, and he’s scheduled to defend next against WBO mandatory Dennis Hogan on April 13 at the Arena Monterrey, in Monterrey, Mexico. Munguia will likely win that fight. Golden Boy is expected to match Munguia against Canelo in 2020. Golovkin won’t get a chance to fight Munguia until either late 2020, after Canelo has already fought him, or in 2021. If Munguia loses to Canelo first, then interest in a Golovkin-Munguia fight afterwards will be luke warm.
– Daniel Jacobs vs. GGG II: This will be a good for Golovkin and the fans, but it’ll depend, of course, how well Jacobs comports himself in his unification fight against Canelo on May 4.
– Saul Canelo vs. Golovkin 4: It’s a given that Golovkin will fight Canelo not just one more time, but two more in his six-fight contract with DAZN. There’s too much interest from boxing fans in seeing Canelo and Golovkin fight again, and it would be insane not to see them square off two more times if not three more. If Golovkin’s six-fight contract with DAZn sees him fight Canelo in three of the matches, there won’t be any complaints of boredom from fans. They want to see these guys fight each other as often as possible, as long there’s no controversy. It’s important that the next Canelo vs. Golovkin fight not end in a questionable result with the judges marring the fight by turning in scores that the boxing public at large doesn’t agree with.
– David Lemieux: Golovkin already beat Lemieux (40-4, 34 KOs) by an 8th round knockout in October 2015 back when David held the IBF middleweight title. Since then, Lemieux has gone 6-1 with an embarrassing 12 round decision loss to WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in December 2017. The one thing that could potentially keep GGG from fighting a rematch with Lemieux is the weight. Lemieux doesn’t appear to be capable of making the 160 lb limit at this point in his career. As long as Golovkin was on board with fighting Lemieux at super middleweight, this fight would be doable. Even a catch-weight at super middleweight might prove to be too difficult for Lemieux to make. Setting the weight limit to 164 pounds for a fight with Golovkin might not be enough of a cushion for Lemieux to make the limit. The Canadian fighter clearly needs to be fighting at the full limit of the 168 lb division right now. That shouldn’t be a problem for Golovkin, as it’s only eight pounds. Golovkin already showed in 2015 that he’s a much better fighter than Lemieux. Here again, this is a situation where Golovkin might have to wait for Canelo to fight Lemieux first before he gets a shot at fighting him. Canelo has never fought Lemieux before, and there would be a lot of interest from the U.S boxing public in seeing those two face each other. But after Canelo fights Lemieux, GGG can get another chance. It would be leftovers for Golovkin, as it would be if he fights Munguia after Canelo faces, but that’s how things go when there only a small number of interesting fights involving name guys.
🗣 @GGGBoxing: "I WANNA FIGHT!" #WatchOnDAZN pic.twitter.com/z1F0i21hvk
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) March 8, 2019