Gennady Golovkin made quick work of Marco Antonio Rubio last Saturday. In front of a record crowd at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, ‘Triple G’ stopped his Mexican opponent in the second round. After the fight Golovkin and his promotor, Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, talked about the plans for 2015.
“We are planning to fight four times in 2015,” Loeffler said at the post fight press conference. “We will fight in Monte Carlo in February and in the United States in May. Both fights will be broadcasted by HBO.” After that Loeffler expects two more fights for Golovkin that year.
On Golovkin’s opponent for his next date in Monte Carlo Loeffler stated, “If Murray wins next week, that fight is a natural. Gennady has fought twice in Monte Carlo and I think for Murray next week will be his third fight over there. We like that fight and HBO is absolutely committed to broadcast the fight.”
Who Golovkin’s other opponents in 2015 will be is unclear at this point. But Golovkin made it very clear who he wants to fight.
“Miguel Cotto is the WBC Champion. For me, WBC is a big belt. I think the number one belt. I respect Cotto, he is a great champion. For me it is very important who the best fighter in the middleweight division is. It is very important for my career, my team, and my fans to fight Cotto, because he is the best middleweight.”
Loeffler shared his fighter’s desire to make the fight with Miguel Cotto. However, he was also very realistic.
“The WBC will mandate the fight and Golovkin wants the fight. He wants to be the best middleweight in the world. But you can’t force fighters to get in the ring with Gennady.”
But Loeffler also saw a positive trend.
“There always used to be a stigma around Golovkin that he was too good and that there wasn’t enough reward to fight him. But now he has HBO 100 % behind him and he is selling out arenas. The reward for fighting Golovkin is there now.”
Whether Cotto decides to fight Golovkin remains to be seen. Cotto is likely going to face Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in a blockbuster fight in May next year. In the meantime, Golovkin will have to settle with fighting the Rubio’s and Murray’s of the world and hope he will get a chance to fight the winner of Cotto-Canelo in the second half of 2015.
