Tom Loeffler on Golovkin-Stevens, HBO, and a Possible Fight with Chavez Jr.

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New York City, the city that never sleeps. A city that has held numerous prize fights, where the action keeps fans awake and out of their seats and fighters are put to sleep, will host yet another prize fight between Gennady Golovkin and Curtis Stevens on November 2nd.

Tha Boxing Voice recently caught up with Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions and spoke with him on the upcoming fight featuring their prize fighter Gennady Golovkin.

For Golovkin, one of the biggest obstacles he has faced in his career is landing opponents, and it seemed like the same issue would arise when Curtis Stevens turned down the original offer that was made to him for the fight. Stevens received a lot of criticism due to the fact that he called Golovkin out more than once.

“Curtis never turned down the fight we just continued negotiations,” said Loeffler. “HBO stepped up. They really liked the fight. There is a lot of buzz on this fight and at the end of the day we were able to get the deal done. It’s the best selling pre-sale that the Garden has had for a boxing event at the theater so we are really excited about the prospects of it.”

Loeffler continued, “Curtis called out Gennady before his last fight and it was very unusual for a fighter to go towards Gennady. We’ve always had problems with fighters getting in the ring to fight him and that is what I thought was unique about it.”

Stevens will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd but for Golovkin, an impressive victory over Stevens could make his dream come true of being a larger than life star in boxing. To take a line from the Frank Sinatra Song ‘New York, New York,’ perfectly describes what Golovkin may be feeling. ‘I wanna wake up in a city that doesn’t sleep and find I’m king of the hill, top of the heap.'”

“We’ve made a commitment to the Garden,” said Loeffler. “Gennady realizes that it (New York City) is the media capital of the world. If he wants his career to take off the way that we think it can, there is no better stage to fight at than Madison Square Garden.”

Loeffler is a busy man and is already planning for future bouts for Golovkin and one name that sticks out for future opponents is another fighter with a fan friendly style, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. With HBO backing Golovkin financially the fight is very possible and even more so now because Chavez has stated that he wants to fight Golovkin.

“Everyone is looking at November 2nd. There is no way you can overlook Curtis Stevens. It’s my job as a promoter to plan ahead but Gennady and Abel are focused on Curtis. HBO has made a commitment to Gennady and they realized it’s a high risk fight for any opponent getting in the ring with him. That’s not the situation anymore where it’s a high risk low reward, “Loeffler explained.

With that commitment from HBO, Loeffler feels that Golovkin will continue to get fights despite his fearsome reputation in the ring. “HBO has made the commitment financially where they are going to support him and pay for the right opponents. The good news is that Gennady has never turned down a fight. It’s easy for me to negotiate with HBO because we have never turned down any opponent they proposed. There is a long list of fighters that have turned down Gennady. We think that with Gennady’s rise, promise, and visibility, and with the budget increasing with every fight from HBO, you will see big fights coming together for next year,” he claimed.

One of those potential big fights that Loeffler is hoping for is Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. “Chavez Jr. is a star. He is very marketable. He has followed in the footsteps of his father. It’s a legendary name, legendary family. We have made it clear that if Chavez wanted the fight and is willing to get in the ring, the weight wouldn’t matter.”

Should Golovkin have difficulties landing top fights at middleweight then his options north and south of 160 are great, and he is willing to make that move for the right fight.

Loeffler went on to say, “The priority is him capitalizing on the best weight, the middleweight division. If there is a compelling fight at 168, 154 Gennady has made it clear that he can fight at either weight. Even at 175.”