By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Gennady Golovkin wants to try out 164 pounds.
That’s the explanation Golovkin gave when asked Monday why his fight against Steve Rolls will be contested at a contracted catch weight of 164 pounds. That weight is halfway between the limits for the middleweight and super middleweight divisions, and it would allow the former 160-pound champion to weigh more for the Rolls bout than any of his first 40 professional fights.
Golovkin, 37, has not come in as a pro at more than the 161¼ pounds he weighed for his eight-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Amar Amari in June 2008.
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) and Toronto’s Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) are set to square off June 8 in a 12-round main event DAZN will stream from Madison Square Garden.
“It wasn’t a big deal for me to do this weight,” Golovkin said through a translator before a press conference Monday at The Garden. “This is the first fight for me [in more than eight months], so I wanted to do the fight at this weight, to try it out. This is my return, this is my comeback, so I wanted to try this weight. But it wasn’t that big of a deal to do this weight.”
Golovkin also stated that their contract weight would be better for the 35-year-old Rolls. Each of Rolls’ past two fights have been contested at the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds, but this huge underdog mostly has boxed at or around the middleweight maximum of 160 pounds during a pro career that began in April 2011.
“And for my opponent this would be a little more comfortable,” Golovkin explained. “I wouldn’t want him to be uncomfortable in the weight, because he boxes at 168. It would be hard for him.”
Golovkin also requested that Brandon Adams meet him at that catch weight.
Los Angeles’ Adams (21-2, 13 KOs), who won the fifth season of “The Contender” late last year, has been a middleweight his entire seven-year pro career. Adams opted to face WBC interim middleweight champ Jermall Charlo (28-0, 21 KOs) later in June in Houston, Charlo’s hometown.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
