Gennady Golovkin Prepared to Fight Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao at 154

While there are few in the boxing stratosphere looking past the May 2 bout scheduled to take place between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, in Gennady Golovkin, one of the illustrious duo may well have an opponent in-waiting.

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The Kazakh sensation has admitted he is eyeing up a potential showdown with one of the iconic fighters and when asked whether he could make the requisite weight limit of 154 pounds, he provided an emphatic answer, per Luis Sandoval of fighthype.com:

“Absolutely.” said the undefeated star. “This is business. I understand; this is boxing business. It’s not a lot of weight to lose. My last fight, I’m 58. I’m not big guy.”

While it would intriguing to see just how Golovkin would fare having drained down to compete in a lighter division, he’s been in devastating form to capture the IBO/WBA middleweight and WBC interim middleweight titles. With a career record of 32 wins, 29 of which came in the form of knockout, he’s potentially one to avoid for both Manny and Floyd.

The 32-year-old is naturally a light middleweight and as noted in the aforementioned piece, weighed in at 158 pounds for his recent win over Martin Murray. That night, while the Brit was resilient in the face of Golovkin’s onslaught, the Kazakh still boasted incredible power despite seeming to throw his shots with such an insouciant ease.

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As noted by Greg O’Keefe of the Liverpool Echo during that scrap, the Kazakh has remarkable technical skills:

Golovkin also dropped in to to visit Pacquiao during his training camp for the megafight with Mayweather, perhaps keeping a close eye on the Filipino star with the prospect of a bout in mind further down the line, per LiveFight:

Golovkin’s stock is undeniably on the rise, and after bludgeoning his way through the middleweight division—Murray is a fine fighter but was left bloodied and bruised by the ruthless Kazakh—a change of scenery might be what is needed if he’s to establish himself as one of the elite names in the boxing world.

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By comparison, both Mayweather and Pacquiao are approaching the twilight of their careers. However, Bob Canobbio of Compubox told Bleacher Report that the statistics suggest the upcoming bout between the pairing could be more entertaining than their scheduled and eventually scrapped showdown six years ago:

The chances of a fight with either don’t look great for Golovkin, though. He’d potentially have to trim down to 147 pounds if he was to fight Pacquiao, with the Filipino previously not keen to fight at junior middleweight. As impressive as Golovkin is, melting down by such a substantial amount would surely have a detrimental effect on his performance.

Mayweather is probably the more natural of the two at 154 and would represent a fascinating opponent for Golovkin. But if the American manages to get through this fight with Manny with his undefeated record unblemished, you suspect he won’t be jumping at the chance of getting in the ring with a wrecking ball like Golovkin.