By Luis Sandoval
In the 14 months since his US television debut, Gennady Golovkin has become one of boxing’s fastest rising stars as his fan friendly style and devastating knockout power has garnered him a lot of attention. His ratings on HBO have been stellar and his latest outing against Curtis Stevens this past November was the third highest rated fight for the network.
Despite his rising popularity, Golovkin still has not been able secure a fight with the other big names in the middleweight division. Golovkin and his team disclosed last year that they would be willing to fight anyone from 154 to 168 pounds in hopes of being able to land a big name fight.
While Golovkin is still willing to take on anybody, he’s now decided to put his full focus on the 160 pound division and try to make the best fights possible there before thinking of moving up or down.
“My focus right now is 160 because I know at 160 I have a lot of champions. I am ready and I want the fights. It’s not really serious about who’s the best middleweight. Right now there [are] a lot of champions. The WBO and the WBC. There’s a lot of champions and I respect those great fighters. I do not know who is the best but I know I want to fight with everybody” Golovkin would tell BoxingScene.
His trainer Able Sanchez echoed the same sentiment. There are enough names and opportunities at middleweight for Golovkin that he shouldn’t have to look at other divisions for meaningful fights. While most continue to point at a possible showdown with Super Middleweight kingpin Andre Ward, Sanchez feels they should try to make all the fights possible at 160 first.
“I think we need to exhaust all possibilities at 160. When Sergio [Martinez] says he’s definitely not going to fight Gennady and is relinquishing his title [then] okay, that’s one out of the way. When [Peter] Quillin does the same thing then that’s one out of the way. Until they say that, they’re still a viable possibility. And if they are a viable possibility, let’s wait until that fight can happen or it doesn’t happen. At that point, then we’ll move up or move down” said Sanchez.
Network and promotional feuds have made it even more difficult for certain fights to be made but Team Golovkin remains optimistic that eventually the other champions will have to fight Gennady.
You can follow Luis Sandoval on Twitter & Instagram @Truewest007.