By Carlos Boogs

Gennady Golovkin, a 2004 Olympic silver medal winner with an amateur record of 345-5, was a hot commodity when he decided to go pro.

By 2010 Universum was in bad financial shape after losing their television deal. In the same year, Golovkin terminated his contract with them - stating that Universum was ignoring his requests to fight his stablemates Felix Sturm and Sebastian Zbik.

The two sides eventually reached an settlement, and then Golovkin signed with K2 Promotions - owned by former heavyweights champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.

According to promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, his company had the opportunity to sign Golovkin, but he decided to pass due to the ongoing legal battle in Germany with Universum.

At the present, Golovkin is one of the most popular fighters in the sport, with the IBF/IBO/WBC/WBA middleweight titles around his waist.

While Arum regrets his decision to pass on GGG, he would make it again if given the opportunity to do it all over.

"Golovkin comes from Kazakhstan. He's a tremendous fighter and a great young man. He's a really, really great young man and a tremendously talented fighter. When he came out of the Olympics, he signed with a German promoter. They got in a legal dispute. And people came to me and asked me to get involved - with the idea that if I won the case then I would get rights to this fighter to promote him," Arum the Forward Podcast.

"The idea of going to Germany and fighting this case in Germany with a lot of their wacky rules and all of that - I really didn't have time or the effort, so I passed. So then a Ukrainian company took up the challenge, and won the case, and Golovkin signed with them. Do I regret not doing what I could have done? Yes. But if I had to do it over again, I would have did the same thing. Who the hell wants to get involved in a legal suit in Germany?"