By Craig Daly: Gennadiy Golovkin revealed last Saturday night that he plans on moving back down to 160 to defend his two titles in that weight class after his disappointing loss to Canelo Alvarez.
Despite a bad showing, the 40-year-old Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) appeared upbeat about his future, but he could find the paydays that he’d been accustomed to getting as part of his DAZN contract have dried up.
Golovkin’s contract is up with DAZN, and it’s unlikely they’ll re-sign him for the kind of money that he was getting before. If PBC signs Golovkin, they’re probably going to want to see him fight Jermall Charlo or David Benavidez.
Golovkin would be walking the plank against either of those fighters. It would be a bad way for the popular middleweight star to end his career, getting thrashed by Benavidez or Charlo.
If Golovkin signs with Top Rank, they’re probably going to insist that he face WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly. That would be a really tough fight for Golovkin with the way he looked against Canelo and Ryota Murata.
DAZN has gotten some lackluster fights involving Golovkin in the last four years with him fighting these guys:
- Steve Rolls
- Kamil Szeremeta
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Ryota Murata
In hindsight, DAZN should have made sure that they had control over the opposition that Golovkin fought so that they could ensure that he fought guys that the boxing public actually wanted to see.
“We were looking for a competitive fight, but five years, 35 to 40 for Gennadiy Golovkin has put himself outside the range of a prime Canelo, and he really couldn’t get started,” said Gareth A. Davies to iFL TV. “He couldn’t get started, and Canelo wouldn’t let him get started.
“I thought Canelo dominated the fight. Even though there weren’t huge amounts of action, the punch stats were very low as well. I thought Canelo bossed the first eight rounds, and I had to give him the first eight rounds.
“I thought Golovkin then came out and gave it his all, and I thought won rounds nine, ten, and eleven. I had it 117-111, nine rounds to three for Canelo. If anything, the controversy in this fight was the judges didn’t give it further for Canelo.
“You can understand 116-112, eight rounds to four, but seven rounds to five, 115-113. If they’d given one more round for Golovkin, we’d have had a majority draw, which again would have caused so much consternation around the world.
“It felt a little bit flat because we didn’t get a lot from Golovkin in the first two-thirds of the fight. The great thing for Golovkin is he can go back down to middleweight and fight Charlo now or fight one of the middleweight guys. All is not lost for him, but I think he’s very close to the end of his career,” said Davies about Golovkin.
