By Gregory Stangrit

Abel Sanchez, the trainer of WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26KOs), sees no reason for his fighter to move up to 168-pounds - until all of their options are fully ruled out at 160-pounds. Sanchez would like to see Golovkin clean out the middleweight division by facing the other champions at the weight. If none of the champions are going to face him in the immediate future, then we might see Golovkin go up in weight.

"If it were my choice, I would first like to see if all of our avenues are exhausted at middleweight. [WBO champion Peter] Quillin is running. If Quillin just says that he doesn't want to fight with Gennady, then we'll forget about him. If [WBC champion Sergio] Martinez doesn't fight us, then we are left with [Felix] Sturm, who is still a champion [of the IBF]. Because not all of these possibilities have been exhausted, I do not think it is fair to ask Gennady to move up. I would like to see him unify the titles, if that's possible, and then we can move up," Sanchez said.

Golovkin is booked to return on April 26th at The Theater in New York's Madison Square Garden, and the likely opponent is Andy Lee.

Gregory Stangrit covers boxing for Allboxing.ru.