By Carlos Boogs, Ryan Burton
WBA/IBF/IBO/WBC middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs) is motivated to achieve two accomplishments before moving up to 168-pounds.
According to his trainer Abel Sanchez, Golovkin wants to unify the entire division by capturing the WBO middleweight crown - and he also wants to break the 20 defense record of Bernard Hopkins. Golovkin has made 17 world titles defenses and should have made number 18 next month, but he was unable to reach an agreement in time with mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs. That fight is now targeted for the first quarter of next year.
The WBO belt currently owned by Billy Joe Saunders of the UK. He is scheduled to make a voluntary defense of the title later this month and then he's been ordered by the World Boxing Organization to make back to back mandatory defenses.
Golovkin is a very big fan of the way Hopkins unified the entire middleweight division. Hopkins came in as the underdog in the middleweight tournament that was arranged by promoter Don King more than fifteen years ago. In the final fight of the tournament, in September of 2001, Hopkins knocked out Felix Trinidad to unify the WBA/WBC/IBF titles. He added the WBO title to his collection in 2004 when he knocked out his future Golden Boy Promotions partner, Oscar De La Hoya.
If Golovkin is able to overcome his mandatory obligation to Jacobs, his next ordered of business will be the WBO world title.
"He really wants that fourth belt. I wouldn't say that he idolizes - but he really thinks a lot about Bernard Hopkins being the unified champion and he was the last unified champion [at middleweight], so that's very big on his mind," Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.
"Not only that, but breaking Hopkins' record of 20 defenses [is also very big on his mind]. The difference is going to be that he's going to break it with all knockouts. I think that's something that's never been done."
