By Steve Kim
Middleweight contender Curtis Stevens (28-5, 21KOs) - who faces James De La Rosa on November 19th at the T-Mobile Arena as part of the undercard to the Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward pay-per-view - is a bit amused by all the middleweights who have recently called out Gennady Golovkin but then somehow find ways not to face him.
Back in November of 2013, he stepped up to the plate and faced 'GGG' at New York's Madison Square Garden and was halted in nine rounds. But he was lauded for taking the challenge of the fearsome Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs), which is something others seem loathe to do.
Golovkin now holds four titles - WBA, WBC, IBO, IBF - and is still having trouble securing top opponents.
"I get a little frustrated at it because they him out but when they call him out - they try to make the fight and it's always some other sh*t that goes along other than signing the contract," Stevens recently stated at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy.
"So it doesn't get me frustrated because I'm not the one fighting but I know it gets (Golovkin) pissed off. You say you want to fight but then the fight doesn't go. Don't say you want to fight him if you're not going to fight him. Like just don't talk sh*t because you got lips. If you're going to say you're going to fight him just sign the contract. Other than that - shut the f*** up."
Asked why he didn't hesitate to face Golovkin, Stevens responded - "I'm a whole different type of animal. At the time I thought I would knock Gennady Golovkin out. I went in there with the wrong game plan but we're soon to get back there... a couple more wins hopefully then I'll call him back... two, three more fights to where I need to be."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
