IBF to order Gennadiy Golovkin to defend against Esquiva Falcao

By Boxing News - 10/18/2022 - Comments

By Brian Webber: Gennadiy Golovkin will reportedly be ordered to defend his IBF middleweight title against his mandatory challenger Esquiva Falcao.

The 40-year-old Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) has a big decision to make whether to hold onto his IBF title, as he’s already been ordered to defend against his WBA mandatory Erislandy Lara.

The 2012 Olympic silver medalist Falcao (30-0, 20 KOs) would be a tough out for the aging Golovkin at this stage in his career, and there’s a good possibility that he’ll lose to the Brazilian.

Golovkin needs to decide which of his two titles he wants to hold onto if any, because these are not easy fights for him, and they won’t bring in the big money that he’s been accustomed to getting with his DAZN contract.

If Golovkin vacates his IBF & WBA 160-lb titles, his problems will be over because he can then choose to fight anyone he wants without the burden of needing to defend the belts.

For Golovkin, it’s the only choice to make because even if he were to hold onto his IBF/WBA titles, the boxing public doesn’t want to see him fighting 39-year-old Lara or the little-known Falcao.

Golovkin can maximize the time he has left in the game by giving up his IBF & WBA belts and then facing WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo or Chris Eubank Jr.

Those would be fights that would give Golovkin nice paydays, and even if he loses, he at least would be getting beaten by popular fighters that the boxing world is familiar with.

Golovkin looked totally shot in his recent loss to Canelo Alvarez on September 17th in Las Vegas. In that fight, Golovkin looked painfully slow and afraid to pull the trigger on his punches through the first eight rounds.

It wasn’t until Canelo tired in the championship rounds that Golovkin started throwing shots, but he still looked very, very slow and not the fighter he’d been during the prime of his career.

It was surprising that Golovkin didn’t retire after his loss to Canelo because there’s nothing for him at 160 aside from a fight with Jermall Charlo, which he likely won’t dare to take due to the probability that he’ll get beaten badly.

If Golovkin isn’t going to retire, a more interesting fight would be for him to face unbeaten interim WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez.

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