When it comes to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin there seems to be a divide among fans of the sport.
Some want Golovkin to fight strictly for titles within the middleweight division claiming his legacy will flourish from being a long-reigning undisputed champion. While others claim his career will never really thrive without that big name and big money fight on his resume regardless of how many successful title defenses he makes.
With Golovkin currently in line to have a big fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next September, if negotiations continue to go well, he might be able to accomplish both prize and legacy as Canelo is now boxing’s biggest cash cow and Lineal middleweight champion of the world.
If for some reason the Canelo fight should not occur next September, Many feel Golovkin should strike while the iron is hot and go for the next biggest fight out there even if that means moving up in weight in order to profit off his increasing popularity.
In the past fans have clamored for a matchup with Andre Ward, who at one time was considered number 2 pound for pound behind Floyd Mayweather Jr., but with Ward’s frequent inactivity, Golovkin’s team felt it would not be a big enough financial gain to persuade him to leave the middleweight division.
However, Golovkin has flirted with the idea of moving up to the 168-pound division for a fight with Carl Froch which would do enormous business in the UK and Europe as a whole but Froch himself has been inactive(retired) since his KO of George Groves in May 2014 and would fail to provide the achievement a victory over Ward would possess.
In an Interview with Dontae’s Boxing Nation, Jeff Mayweather, uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr. who was the top paid athlete 3 of the last 4 years, expressed his opinion that Golovkin should go with the biggest money fights he can obtain.
When speaking about who is more attractive for Golovkin to face, Jeff replied, “he want to fight Froch because that’s where the money is. I mean you got a guy that can bring in a gate of 10 million, you know, and fill an arena with 100,000 people, that who you wanna fight.”
“It’s a business. Fighting Andre Ward is not gonna make no money…you go over there and fight Froch, you’re guaranteed 3, 4 million dollars.” Jeff added “at the end of the day nobody fights for belts. They don’t give a damn about belts. At the end of the day you wanna go to the bank.”
Jeff Mayweather would go on to say he feels the legacy fights can happen for Golovkin after he gets the prize fights that he has earned at this stage of his career. The priority should be to maximize his earning potential while he can.
Golovkin, 33 years of age, is no youngster in terms of boxing age and may need to capitalize on his success as quickly as possible because as spectators of this unforgiving sport we all know how quickly one punch can change your life for good or bad.
