by David P. Greisman
It wasn’t even a year ago that a deal was in the works to put middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin in a bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who had moved up in weight.
But Chavez was unhappy with the terms of the deal Top Rank was offering him. The bout with Golovkin fell through. And with Chavez’s loss April 18 to light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara, there’s far less interest from Golovkin’s team in facing him.
“Now that Chavez got beat, I think Chavez is on the backburner for a couple of fights,” said Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, in an interview on April 24.
Said Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions: “We almost had that fight last year. Unfortunately, he lost to Fonfara, and his career is sidetracked right now.”
Golovkin’s team said “GGG” would still be moving to jump up to 168, particularly for a bout with Carl Froch. For the moment, however, their hope is to get a bout with middleweight champion Miguel Cotto.
Golovkin will first face Willie Monroe Jr. on May 16 in Southern California.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
