By Jake Donovan
Gennady Golovkin officially kicked off his 2015 in-ring campaign with perhaps the most notable win of his career. In stopping Martin Murray in 11 rounds Saturday evening in Monte Carlo, Golovkin picked up a win against a world class middleweight contender who’d always been competitive at the top level.
Don’t expect it to serve as the final feather in his cap, though.
The plans for 2015 are – aside from intending to fight four times on the year – to collect as many belts as possible. Complete middleweight unification is the hot topic in the Golovkin camp, with sights set on the likes of Andy Lee, Daniel Jacobs and of course the reigning World middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto.
Golovkin specifically called Cotto by name when asked by HBO’s Max Kellerman of his future wish list.
“I hope, I hope it's Miguel Cotto because he's the WBC champion,” suggested Golovkin (32-0, 29KOs). “My goal is all of the belts. I need unification fights.”
It was that desire that convinced Golovkin and his team to pursue a WBC Silver belt in his previous fight, despite already owning another title (WBA) since 2010. In terms of alphabet hierarchy, a Silver title is a step backwards for a long-reigning titlist.
In this case, though, it was insurance, an effort to box in the most lucrative option the division has to offer. Golovkin did his part, blasting out Marco Antonio Rubio inside of two rounds last October to position himself as Cotto’s mandatory challenger, all while continuing to serve as another sanctioning body’s recognized champion.
With the pieces in place, the owner of the longest knockout streak of any reigning titlist now simply has to wait for those events to materialize. As for when they can happen? That’s not his job to know, only to show up when summoned.
“I know my job, in the ring,” Golovkin points out. “It's the job for my promoter (K2 Promotions) to come up with (opponents). My work is in the ring.”
That leads to Tom Loeffler, Managing Director for K2 Promotions and the brilliant guiding force behind the man most in the boxing world believe to be the best middleweight on the planet.
Even as Golovkin was locked in on nobody else for the past couple of months other than Murray, Loeffler began planning his next moves. Fighters aren’t allowed to look to the future or past their opponents; that’s why they have promoters.
“Gennady and Abel (Sanchez) were required to focus on Martin Murray. It’s my job to look forward and plan his next move,” Loeffler notes. “With the number of title defenses he’s made (the win over Murray was his 13th successful defense), Gennady is moving in with some pretty incredible company. We would like to continue that route, and keep adding titles to the collection.”
In registering his 13th consecutive successful defense, Golovkin moves past Marvin Hagler and Felix Sturm for third on the all-time middleweight list. The only two ahead of him are the late Carlos Monzon (14) and living—and amazingly still active—boxing legend Bernard Hopkins, who holds the all-time record with 20 defenses over a 10-year span.
Golovkin has racked up 13 in less than five years, employing the type of ring activity once enjoyed by fighters of past who fought often and didn’t always put business first. That model is once again in place for 2015, with Saturday’s win marking his 7th appearance on cable giant HBO since his network debut in Sept. ’12—and two more fights wedged in between for nine in the span of 17 months.
Fighters love to toss around the phrase, “I’d fight tomorrow if I could.” Golovkin comes closer than any other top fighter in the game today to actually live up to that claim. That fighting mentality only makes it that much easier for his handlers to map out his future.
Next up is a planned return in the spring. The level of competition will dictate exactly when it takes place.
“It could be May, it could be June,” Loeffler teases. “It would depend on the level of the opponent and the best format for the fight. From there, that leaves six months to fight two more times for four on the year.”
The June suggestion hints towards a long-desired clash with Cotto, with any big fight involving the Puerto Rican superstar likely to take place on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. Cotto has fought in New York on the eve of the parade a total of six times, including last year’s career-resurrecting upset knockout win over Sergio Martinez to win the World lineal middleweight championship.
Golovkin has become a marketable attraction in New York, particularly in Cotto’s home away from home at Madison Square Garden. The Kazakhstani knockout artist fought three times on MSG property, twice in The Theatre during a breakout 2013 campaign before graduating to the main room last July, where he knocked out former titlist Daniel Geale in three rounds.
As a boxer who captured the Silver medal for Kazakhstan in the 2004 Athens Olympics, and who has fought around the world, returning back to New York for the biggest fight of his career is no concern at all. It matters little that he would be conceding hometown advantage to Cotto; in fact, Golovkin and his team are well aware of just how much they’d have to give up in order to make the fight happen.
“Gennady has made concessions to make several past fights happen,” admits Loeffler. “The primary goal is to collect as many titles as we possibly can. We don’t intend to let anything stand in the way of landing a fight with a fighter like Miguel Cotto.”
Absent a Cotto fight, it’s possible that Golovkin’s ring return is bumped up to mid-May, where he would land as the closer to what would be an epic stretch for HBO’s boxing program.
Already in queue in succession, the network has:
- World heavyweight king – and the face of K2 Promotions – Wladimir Klitschko defending versus Bryant Jennings on April 25 at Madison Square Garden in his first stateside fight in seven years;
- The long-awaited superfight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas, in a joint Pay-Per-View venture with Showtime
- The network return of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who faces James Kirkland on May in Houston.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility for Golovkin to serve as closer in that four-week stretch. Against whom isn’t immediately known, although it could charter new territory – fitting that it would come on the heels of his picking up his deepest knockout to date.
“We’ve always wanted to do a fight with Gennady in Las Vegas,” Loeffler hints, having already developed Golovkin as a star attraction in New York and the Los Angeles region. “We don’t want to do just any fight; it would depend on the opponent, but a fight in Vegas is in Gennady’s future.”
So what if the other middleweights aren’t willing to cooperate – like what has been the case ever since he’s emerged as a rising star in the sport?
“Gennady was already on weight well before the weigh-in,” Loeffler points out. “If Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao were to make themselves available, he could fight at 154. Going in the other direction, the right opportunity could mean moving up in weight for a fight. We were ready to move up to face Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., for example, before Chavez couldn’t go through with the fight. We’re open to other options at that weight as well.
“Those decisions would come only after we explore all options at middleweight. Gennady’s primary focus is to become the undisputed middleweight champion of the world. In doing so, it would translate to his becoming the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
