Ranking the Best Opponents for Gennady Golovkin's Next Fight
No one learned much Saturday night that they didn’t already know.
Gennady Golovkin is a big-time middleweight. Golovkin enjoys knocking people out. And HBO, which televises Golovkin’s fights to a swelling fanbase in the United States, enjoys having him.
The Kazakh-born slugger put his IBO/WBA shares of the 160-pound fiefdom on the line against reigning IBF champ David Lemieux in a (not the one everyone wants) title unification, and he was clearly in the mood to put on a midtown Manhattan-sized show in his first pay-per-view appearance.
In fact, Golovkin ticked his career KO percentage up to 91.1—31 stoppages in 34 fights—and stretched an active wins-inside-the-distance streak to 21 with a systematic eighth-round finish of the game but outclassed Canadian, who’d arrived with a nine-fight KO streak of his own.
The win kept Golovkin on the perch of mandatory challenger to Miguel Cotto’s WBC crown at 160 pounds, though Cotto will face fellow former 154-pound champ Canelo Alvarez next month in Las Vegas.
And after that, who knows?
Regardless, the Lemieux win was another step toward bigger and better things for Golovkin, and here are a handful of possibilities we'd like to discuss as next in line between him and 35-0 next year.
Some are realistic. Others far less so. And some are just fun to think about.
Got an opinion of your own? Feel free to register your views in the comments section.
5. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
1 of 5
We know. We know. We should just let it go.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is history. He fought 49 fights. He won 49 times. And now he’s free to enjoy the million or so dollars he’ll be able to spend each week for the rest of his life without worrying about the likes of Golovkin.
But just like Ronda Rousey finds Money’s name on her lips whenever she’s seeking a quick headline, it seems no different for the man from Kazakhstan.
Triple-G got the boxing scribes fired up again in the lead-up to Lemieux by suggesting in a pre-press conference gathering that Floyd wasn’t done.
“He’s not finished. He’s a good businessman. He’s a very smart guy. He has [a] plan [for his] future,” Golovkin said. And, regarding a possible matchup with the now-ex-pound-for-pound king, he was all in.
“I hope. This is boxing—a very short sport life. Why not? This is a big chance for us.”
Reality Check: Makes for a great headline. But don’t count on it.
4. Bernard Hopkins
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Speaking of just letting it go, it seems particularly sound advice for a guy who’ll be 51 years old just a few weeks after Christmas.
But Bernard Hopkins, probably because he’s, well, Bernard Hopkins, can’t seem to let sleeping middleweight champions lie.
He told CBSSports.com a few months back that it’d be a “done deal” if Golovkin’s people were to express interest in a match with him, and he restarted the storyline in the lead-up to Saturday night by telling the assembled media, “I would disarm (Golovkin). And then I would make him fight the fight that I want to fight.”
It could be classified a crime against a senior citizen.
Or it could be another of Hopkins’ patented schoolings of younger, unbeaten foes.
We know it probably won't happen, but we dare you not to be compelled to watch if it does.
Reality Check: Doubtful at best, but dang, it’d be fun.
3. Sergey Kovalev
3 of 5
Few fighters in the world equal the menace that Sergey Kovalev possesses.
Golovkin, though, is one of them.
He’s had a title belt since late 2011 and has seen his profile rise significantly, thanks to a consecutive KO streak that stretches back to an eight-round decision over something called Amar Amari back in 2008.
The run of stoppages hasn’t exactly left opponents champing at the bit to get at Golovkin, which has helped build his brand as the most-avoided fighter in boxing and led to past claims that he’d go anywhere from 154 to 168 pounds to secure a match with a big name.
Golovkin and Kovalev have sparred together in the past, and each has worked with trainer Abel Sanchez, who said Kovalev was “afraid of Golovkin when he was in the ring,” according to HustleBoss.com. Clearly, Triple-G is still on the mind of the Russian light heavyweight, who told Bleacher Report a few months back that he’d be willing to engage his former training partner if the fight were made in his weight class.
Should the full 160-pound unification opportunity that Golovkin seeks not materialize, a Kovalev match is presumably one that the public would accept as a violent substitute.
Reality Check: It's odd how some folks call Mayweather, who hits the ring at 150, a coward for not fighting Golovkin, who climbed in at 170 on Saturday, according to HBO, despite a functional 20-pound difference. But suggest Golovkin tangle with a guy such as Kovalev, who was 185 the morning of his fight with Bernard Hopkins, and it’ll be labeled silly.
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2. Andre Ward
4 of 5
This being boxing, it only makes sense that one of the best possible fights out there—between two highly decorated amateurs who’d evolved into unbeaten, championship-level pros—wouldn’t happen.
Instead, the mere question of Andre Ward getting into a ring with Golovkin instantly devolves into a he said/he said, with each camp accusing the other of doing its best to avoid the confrontation.
The most recent salvos have seen Ward claim an offer to Team Golovkin was “turned down in five minutes” and that the Kazakh has “hoodwinked” fans, per SB Nation's Fight Hub (h/t Spencer Brown of MailOnline).
Meanwhile, Golovkin and Co. have their own version of the story, with trainer Abel Sanchez simply referring to Ward as “a liar.”
Reality Check: Remember all the fencing between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao? That’s all this is. They’ll be in the ring together eventually. It has to happen.
1. Miguel Cotto/Canelo Alvarez
5 of 5
At this point, does it really matter to anyone which of these guys Golovkin gets in with?
Whether it’s Cotto, who won the legit middleweight title with a blowout of Sergio Martinez, or Alvarez, who’s rebuilt his brand since losing to Mayweather two years ago, it’s high time someone take the challenge or head back down to 154 pounds for less threatening quarry.
They’ll fight on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas and then have a decision to make.
Like many others when Golovkin’s name is mentioned, Cotto's voice goes into a noticeable stutter. But as for Alvarez, his promoter—Oscar De La Hoya—suggested to CBSSports.com earlier this year that it’s not a question of whether a match with Triple-G will occur, it’s when.
“He's willing to fight the very best. And Golovkin is no exception,” De La Hoya said. “He's eventually going to fight Golovkin, and the question is at what point do we let him loose? The time will come. And at the right time, people will see that fight.”
Reality Check: It all sounds perfectly imminent, but given the options Cotto and Alvarez might have at 154, we’ll believe it when we see it.
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