Golovkin’s Realistic Future

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On Saturday night, Gennady Golovkin once again further proved why he is known as the best middleweight boxer in the world. After dominating a top 5 middleweight in Daniel Geale with an impressive 3rd round KO, the biggest question from everyone in boxing is what’s next for HBO’s biggest rising superstar? In this question lies where the immediate future of HBO Boxing will be headed for the next couple years, if you ask them. A lot of names were thrown out there in the post-fight press conference for Golovkin (Canelo, Cotto, Chavez Jr, Froch, Ward, Soliman), but how many of these are realistic fights?

The press conference started off with Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler saying some very direct statement about who Golovkin has on his radar. “Gennady want to prove that he’s the best middleweight champion and the only way to do that is to fight the other champions. So we would go out and try to make a Sam Soliman fight if it’s possible, we can’t force anyone to get in the ring, we saw that with the Chavez fight. We agreed on a lot of different conditions to get the Chavez fight, didn’t happen. Cotto would be at the top of the list right now. There’s no bigger fight that can be made right now”, said Loeffler.

Golovkin then spoke about the negotiations regarding getting a fight against Chavez breaking down, saying, “I want this fight, I need this fight. Maybe I need time. Just give me time. “Then Loeffler stepped in and said, “It’s more of a question for Chavez. I know Bob Arum put a big guarantee in front of him, also put a big guarantee in front of him in case he lost and Chavez didn’t sign the contract. We don’t know all the intricacies, but we know there was a lot of money on the table. So when he says ‘It’s not his time’ what he means is he can’t force the fight to happen. I can’t force the fight to happen. The other fighter has to sign the contract.

Loeffler said that he hopes to bring Golovkin back to the ring in either October or November. Just for reference, Miguel Cotto is said to have a date scheduled in the Garden in December. I’m sure that Golovkin’s team would move their date for a Cotto fight, but there are other factors to that equation that could make that fight very hard to make, and the reasons are very similar to why a Ward fight cannot be made (ignoring the fact that Ward is still tied of in a legal situation). Golovkin hasn’t gotten a huge payday in his career yet, but he isn’t working for pennies. If he is to face another big name fighter that makes a lot, like Cotto or Ward, or any of the names mentioned above, it would have to be a PPV fight.

With there being so many PPVs already this year and with a Mayweather PPV and a Pacquiao PPV still to come, there won’t be much left for boxing fans to pay for another PPV in December, especially when another rumored PPV may have Chavez Jr facing Carl Froch on January. You normally don’t see a regular, non-ppv televised where both guys are making a good chunk of money. If GGG faced any of above names, aside from Soliman, it would have to be a PPV to be able to pay both fighters what they want, but fans aren’t going to pay for a PPV practically every month. Boxing is a business 1st and foremost. Sometimes fans forget that.

As for more reasons why Golovkin may have troubles fighting who he wants, the big pie in the sky is Canelo-Cotto next May, as I mentioned before Froch-Chavez Jr is rumored for January, so if both of those do get made, that leaves Sam Soliman for Golovkin to negotiate with. Even though Soliman is a belt holder of the IBF middleweight championship, he’s 40 years old, and already has 11 losses on his resume. As I said, he is a belt holder, but that is a fight that most fans would not be ecstatic to see.

Loeffler was asked if there was a rush to get Golovkin on a PPV, he responded, “There’s no rush, the only way it makes sense to do a PPV is if he has a PPV opponent. I think there is 3, clearly, out there. There’s Canelo, Cotto, and Chavez, Mayweather is a little unrealistic. Gennady’s never called out Floyd, it’s just people ask, would he come down to 154 to fight Floyd, the answer is yes, but that’s not calling him out because Floyd fights in a lower division. Those are the realistic PPVs and anyone else Gennady’s happy to fight on HBO. We think he reaches a broader audience.”

When asked about if a Sam Soliman fight would be here or in Australia, Loeffler said, it would be here, on HBO, and they would market it as a unification bout. He also clarified “here” as in here in the US, not specifically in the Garden. They prefer to have it in the Garden, but Loeffler realizes that with the Knicks and the Rangers starting up, they Garden is normally a very busy time during the end of the year with limited open dates. He did mention wanted to branch out in other markets, specifically naming Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

As the press ended, Golovkin’s final message was, “I’m very happy, look at my face. It’s a big day for me, not just for me, but for my team. I’m very happy.” Not only is Golovkin happy, but so are fight fans as they got to see a fight without controversy with a fighter that doesn’t fight 1-2 times a year, doesn’t make you pay $70 to see him fight, and is a truly good guy outside the ring. Golovkin will either eventually get that big opponent he wants within the next year or he’ll continue in a similar route of a Sergio Martinez, over 30, and too good for his own good. Either way, it will be a fun ride watching the current world’s most exciting boxer, Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin, aka GGG.