By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Gennady Golovkin doesn’t believe Floyd Mayweather Jr. will remain retired.
“Floyd, he’s not finished,” Golovkin told a small group of reporters prior to a press conference Wednesday for his middleweight championship unification fight against David Lemieux on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. “He’s not finished. He’s a good businessman. He’s a very smart guy. He has [a] plan [for his] future.”
When asked if he thinks boxing’s biggest star of this era would consider fighting him if the undefeated five-division champion comes back, the Kazakh knockout artist said, “I hope. This is boxing – a very short sport life. Why not? This is a big chance for us.”
The 33-year-old Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) has repeatedly stated he would move down from 160 pounds to 154 for an opportunity to challenge Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs), who retired after easily out-boxing Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) in a 12-round fight Sept. 12 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather, 38, retired as a welterweight (147 pounds), but beat Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) and Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) in fights contracted for the 154-pound limit and defeated Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) in a fight contested at a maximum contracted catch weight of 152 pounds.
Golovkin hasn’t weighed in at less than 158½ pounds for any of his 33 professional fights.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
