Sergiy Derevyanchenko never doubted that he would be right back in the title picture before very long.
The only question in his mind was against whom the opportunity would come—not that the final opponent never mattered all that much to begin with.
It will come versus former titlist Gennadiy Golovkin, as the two collide for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight titles. Their bout headlines a live DAZN stream on Oct. 5 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, coming about after Golovkin’s lone conqueror, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vacated the IBF title, leaving the belt up for grabs between the sanctioning body’s two highest rated contenders.
“I was being considered for the Canelo fight,” noted Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10KOs), who became the mandatory challenger following a 12-round win over Germany’s Jack Culcay in their final eliminator this past April. “My first concern was my fight with Jack Culcay.
“Once that fight was over, I was just waiting to see who would give me the opportunity, but it didn’t matter to me who I fought.”
The win over Culcay put Ukraine’s Derevyanchenko—who now lives and trains in Brooklyn, New York—back in the number-one position where he was a year ago. Last time around, it was Golovkin who was the reigning titlist before giving up the strap, forgoing a mandatory defense in favor of a far more lucrative rematch with Alvarez, with whom he fought to a controversial 12-round draw in Sept. 2017.
Alvarez pulled out a majority decision win last September, six weeks prior to Derevyanchenko falling just short versus stablemate Daniel Jacobs in their vacant title fight last October at MSG’s Hulu Theater.
A win in April put him in position for a second title fight, once again for a vacant belt this time after it was Alvarez who would relinquish. The move came in favor of his taking a challenge two divisions north to light heavyweight where he will face three-time and reigning 175-pound titlist Sergey Kovalev in November.
Derevyanchenko always liked his chances in that fight and perhaps even more so against the 37-year old Golovkin (39-1-1, 35KOs) who rebounded with a 4th round stoppage of Canada’s Steve Rolls in June.
“The Jacbos fight but also Culcay as well gave me the experience (needed) to be prepared at the title level,” notes the 33-year old, who represented Ukraine in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “Those fights proved that I am on the elite level (of middleweights). Now, I have the experience and am prepared for anything this Saturday.”
Jake Donovan is senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
