By Sean Jones: The WBC has entered Gennadiy Golovkin into their middleweight rankings at the #1 spot after vacating his IBF & WBA 160-lb titles. Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) is now on the doorstep of Jermall Charlo, WBC middleweight champion.
The WBC giving Golovkin the #1 ranking will give fans hope that we could see a fight between him and Jermall next. For both guys, it’s the ideal fight to get an excellent payday.
Obviously, Golovkin won’t get another fight against Canelo Alvarez after losing to him for thee second time last September, and the only fighter that makes sense for him to face for money purposes is Jermall Charlo.
Golovkin gave up his IBF belt after being ordered to defend it against #1 Esquiva Falcao, and recently, GGG vacated his WBA strap after the World Boxing Association ordered him to face ‘regular’ champion Erislany Lara.
Many boxing fans believe that Golovkin didn’t fancy his chances of beating either of those guys. However, there was a report that there wasn’t interest from the networks in those fights for Golovkin that would have paid him the kind of money he’d been getting on his DAZN contract.
They gave Golovkin a great deal when they signed him to a tremendous three-year, six-fight contract in 2019.
Golovkin vs. Charlo would likely generate good money for both fighters on Showtime PPV. With that said, Jermall hasn’t fought for almost two years, and his star power has expected to diminish due to his inactivity.
If Golovkin is looking for a colossal guarantee from a network for a fight against the inactive Charlo, it might not be there for the kind of money he’s been accustomed to receiving since 2019.
It’s unknown whether Golovkin will ever fight again after losing his recent fight against Canelo Alvarez by a 12 round unanimous decision on September 17th.
It was a listless performance by the 40-year-old Golovkin, who spent much of the fight holding Canelo and moving around the ring to keep from getting hit.
To some fans, Golovkin looked like he was just there for the payday and wasn’t about to put himself in harm’s way by fighting hard. The judges scored it 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.
The million-dollar question is whether Golovkin would be willing to take advantage of his newly acquired #1 ranking by the WBC to attempt to challenge Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs).
Some believe Golovkin has never had any interest in fighting Jermall for some reason, as it would have been a fight that he could have lost.
Golovkin had been waiting for his trilogy match against Canelo Alvarez for four years after losing to him in 2018 in their second contest in 2018.
From 2019 to 2022, Golovkin fought just four times, taking safe fights against Steve Rolls, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Kamil Szeremeta, and Ryota Murata.