Gennady Golovkin’s mandatory defense of his IBF middleweight title against Kamil Szeremeta is being tabled for February or March 2020, Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn told BoxingScene.com in an interview.
Hearn met with Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) during his trip to Los Angeles last week in the midst of the KSI-Logan Paul fight promotion and discussed next steps for the Kazakh fighter.
Before a fight with Szeremeta (21-0, 5 KOs) can be finalized, Hearn, who struck a co-promotional deal with Golovkin in August, said he will reignite negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions and work out the parameters for a possible third fight between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez.
Alvarez has stated several times in recent months that Golovkin does not represent a challenge to him anymore after fighting to a draw in 2017, and sneaking by with a majority decision in 2018.
During the build up of Alvarez’s fight against Sergey Kovalev, the Mexican star tweaked his stance and said the business needs to be right in order to consider another fight with Golovkin, a bout that streaming partner DAZN has been demanding, and one that Oscar De La Hoya guaranteed will happen in 2020.
“I fought him for 24 rounds and beat him already. He’s not a challenge to me anymore,” Alvarez told BoxingScene.com in an interview. “Absolutely money is the most important thing [for fighting Golovkin again]. If they can present a good offer to me on the business side, we’ll see. I’m very happy, of course, [to be boxing’s power player.]”
In addition to appeasing Alvarez’s monetary demands, Golovkin may also have to bend on what weight the fight will be agreed upon.
Alvarez made his light heavyweight debut against Kovalev earlier this month, winning a title in a fourth division, and was unsure whether or not he can campaign as a middleweight ever again.
Golovkin seemingly aged overnight last month against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, absorbing the most punches he ever had in a fight.
If Golovkin fights Alvarez next — surely a matchup would take place during Cinco De Mayo, if it were ever finalized — he would be 38-years-old.
For now, the saga continues, and it remains to be seen if a trilogy can ever be produced.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.