By Corey Erdman
It's universally accepted that Gennady Golovkin is one of the very best fighters on the planet today.
The unified middleweight champion defends his pair of crowns against Dominic Wade next Saturday on HBO. Although Wade is a credible challenger, having earned his spot as the IBF's mandatory challenger, that still isn't enough to make most people believe he can win the fight. Bookies have Wade listed as a 20-1 underdog in some cases.
So the debate leading up to this fight hasn't been much about if or how Golovkin will beat Wade, it's moved on to broader discussions. Not just who will GGG face next time, but how does he stack up against the very best ever.
“Twenty years from now, when we all sit down to discuss the middleweights, Golovkin will be one of them that they talk about,” said trainer Abel Sanchez.
As big of a boast as it may seem, Sanchez does have a history of creating all-time greats. The cornerman first rose to prominence while guiding Terry Norris during his Hall of Fame career. One can certainly make the argument that Norris is the greatest junior middleweight to ever live. Terrible Terry was lineal champion for two years between 1995 and 1997, and defeated an incredible 13 world champions during his career, including Sugar Ray Leonard, John Mugabi and Donald Curry.
As Sanchez admits, it's much easier to make historical distinctions when looking back in time, as one can fully put the weight of a fighter's accomplishments into context, but he is confident history will look back fondly at GGG.
“I think when we're all finished, maybe not in the near future, because we all seem to criticize in our era, the fighters of this era, but in the future we give them the accolades that are due to them,” said Sanchez.
Corey Erdman is a boxing writer and commentator based in Toronto, ON. Follow him on Twitter @corey_erdman.
