by David P. Greisman

If Gennady Golovkin heads overseas to fight Chris Eubank Jr. in the United Kingdom, then Eubank should thank to the only person to beat him so far as a pro — middleweight titleholder Billy Joe Saunders.

“We tried to make the Billy Joe Saunders fight,” said Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, which has Golovkin in its stable. “That wasn’t possible. He didn’t want to fight. The next best alternative is Eubank.”

Golovkin’s goal has been to unify all four major world titles at middleweight. He had the WBA belt, then picked up the IBF title when he stopped David Lemieux last October. And he was in the unusual position of having a world title from one sanctioning body (and then two) while still being ranked in the ratings of another.

That maneuver allowed him to be the mandatory challenger to the WBC title. First Miguel Cotto deferred that obligation, and then Canelo Alvarez was able to do the same until he had no choice but to either fight Golovkin next or vacate the belt. When Canelo dropped the WBC title, Golovkin automatically acquired it.

Saunders has the WBO. In lieu of a deal to fight Golovkin, he may instead wind up on the undercard of Canelo’s fight with Liam Smith in September and could go on to face Alvarez afterward, according to Mitch Abramson of RingTV.com.

Eubank, who is 23-1 with 18 KOs, has won five straight since the loss to Saunders.

“Eubank is very vocal about making the fight,” Loeffler said in late July. “That’d be Gennady’s first fight over there. That’d be a huge event on Sky Pay-Per-View in one of the big arenas over there.”

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