By Jake Donovan

It was never the manner in which he wanted to add another title belt to his collection, but all that Gennady Golovkin and Tom Loeffler can do is accept what took place and move forward with the next order of business.

The unbeaten, unified middleweight titlist was roughly 10 days into official negotiations for a mandatory challenger versus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, when the lineal middleweight king abruptly renounced his reign as World Boxing Council (WBC) champ.

The two sides were given 15 days to hammer out a deal or else be subject to a May 24 purse bid hearing in Mexico City. It was a deadline that did not work for Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions in releasing a statement claiming a plan to continue negotiations with Golovkin’s camp, but no longer bound to the restrictions that came with making a mandatory title defense.

With the announcement came official confirmation from the WBC in elevating Golovkin from interim to full titlist, effective immediately.

So what is Golovkin’s first order of business as a four-belt (WBC, WBA, IBF, IBO) titlist?

Holding out hope that his team can finish what was started in discussing the one fight that all boxing fans next want to see take place atop the middleweight division.

“Canelo relinquishing the title doesn’t change anything on our end,” Tom Loeffler, managing director of K2 Promotions confirmed to BoxingScene.com on Wednesday. “We will continue to negotiate for this super fight – that has been the priority from the moment Gennady became the mandatory challenger and continues to remain the priority.

“It’s the fight we want to make. We’re not even considering any other options as long as we continue negotiations.”

Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs) gained status as WBC interim titlist following a 2nd round knockout of Marco Antonio Rubio in Oct. ’14. His time in that slot has been spent waiting and being asked to step aside as Alvarez and Miguel Cotto before him chose to move in a different direction.

Cotto negotiated two step aside fights during his reign, facing and stopping Daniel Geale last June to set up a long-awaited clash with Alvarez last November. Alvarez won the fight by unanimous decision, becoming the first prizefighter in Mexico’s rich boxing history to capture the World (lineal) middleweight championship.

As it relates to alphabet hardware, he also collected the WBC belt, which came on the condition that he would work out terms within the next 30 days for a fight with Golovkin. Alvarez was ultimately granted an extension on talks, before both were permitted to take interim fights before being reordered to negotiate.

Golovkin satisfied one of his outstanding mandatory title defenses, stopping unbeaten but untested Dominic Wade in two rounds this past April. The bout came two weeks prior to Alvarez’ one-punch, highlight-reel 6th round knockout of Amir Khan earlier this month. Golovkin was ringside for the fight and even invited into the ring by the defending champion, who insisted afterward that “Mexicans don’t f*** around”, his way of ensuring his fans that he would make this coveted fight happen, regardless of weight or terms.

There’s still a chance of the fight happening, although Golovkin no longer has the WBC mandatory challenger status as any leverage he may or may not have sought in such talks. Sanctioning bodies do not honor catchweights, regardless of contractual terms. It was a point of contention for Alvarez, whose last five starts have come at a contracted weight of 155-pounds.

However, shortly after his win over Khan the defending champ from Mexico claimed a fight at the full 160-pound divisional limit would not be an issue. In giving up the belt, the burden of proof now rests on his shoulders to honor that word, or else deal with any feedback – negative or otherwise – that comes from any particular stance he takes in continued talks.

That said, Golovkin and his team were relatively pleased with how talks previously progressed and hope to pick up from that point.

“Honestly, we have tremendous respect for Canelo and for Oscar (de la Hoya, founder and head of Golden Boy Promotions),” Loeffler stated. “There weren’t any outrageous demands made at any point during negotiations. They didn’t ask for extensions to the deadline, for any ridiculous weight demands or unfair financial terms.

“Obviously, Gennady would rather fight Canelo for the title. He also would’ve loved to have faced Miguel Cotto, Sergio Martinez (whom Cotto dethroned in June ’14) and Felix Sturm (who avoided Golovkin for two years while as WBA champ). But Canelo and Oscar stayed true to their word – either we make the fight (within the WBC 15-day deadline) or they wouldn’t hold the title hostage. We now have the title – but still want to make the fight happen.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2