By Steve Kim

On the night of October 17th at the Madison Square Garden, a middleweight unification bout takes place between WBA/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin and IBF bel-holder David Lemieux. Then a month later, on November 21st at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, WBC champion Miguel Cotto faces Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

Golovkin, by virtue of his second round stoppage of Marco Antonio Rubio last October, was named the WBC interim middleweight champion, which basically made him Cotto's mandatory.

Things were complicated a bit as Cotto decided to not face Alvarez in the first half of the year as expected. An agreement had been struck by K2 Promotions, who promote Golovkin, to allow that match-up to take place before enforcing their position.

Instead, as Cotto signed a new promotional pact with Roc Nation Sports, Alvarez decided to face James Kirkland on May 9th, stopping him in three rounds. On June 6th, Miguel Cotto halted Daniel Geale in four. Earlier this week, a fight between the two stars was finalized.

So where does that leave Golovkin?

According to Tom Loeffler, the  managing director of K2 Promotions:

“The WBC has mandated that the winner of Cotto-Canelo fight the winner of Golovkin-Lemieux,” he told BoxingScene.com.

Mauricio Suliaman, the President of the WBC, confirmed Loeffler's statements via email.

With that said, there's nothing that can stop the winner of the fight on November 21st from just relinquishing the title.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.