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by David P. Greisman - There comes a point at which a boxer should not be held responsible for circumstances beyond his control.
There comes a time, though, when we as boxing fans expect a better product and don’t accept excuses, however valid, for why we are not getting it.
This is the situation that Gennady Golovkin and his team may someday confront.
Golovkin, a middleweight titleholder seen as being perhaps the best in his division, has not yet gotten the opportunity to prove himself so and may not get that opportunity for quite some time.
The lineal champion at 160 — the man who beat the man who beat the man, and so on — is Miguel Cotto, who dethroned Sergio Martinez in June. Perhaps had Martinez been triumphant, he would’ve gone on to defend against Golovkin.
But with Cotto the winner, there was never a chance of him sharing a ring with “GGG.” He’s more likely to take the largest available paydays, and at present that means a potential pay-per-view against Mexican superstar and former junior-middleweight titleholder Canelo Alvarez. Cotto may take a stay-busy fight in the upcoming months before meeting Alvarez in May 2015, coinciding with Cinco de Mayo weekend.
A handful of other middleweights fight on Showtime, while Golovkin has a contract with HBO. Peter Quillin dropped his world title rather than earn a career-high payday to face Matt Korobov, presumably because the bout was not going to air on Showtime, nor was it going to be on a card affiliated with Golden Boy Promotions (with whom he works) or adviser Al Haymon (with whom he is signed).
Quillin could end up facing Daniel Jacobs, who’s also with Haymon. Former champion Jermain Taylor, another Haymon middleweight, is long past his prime but recently picked up a belt with a win over Sam Soliman. He’s not about to be fed to Golovkin either. Farther down the rankings are a couple more Haymon guys at 160: Sergio Mora and prospect Caleb Truax. Haymon and HBO no longer have a working relationship, and Haymon’s plans likely don’t include putting his boxers in with Golovkin. Meanwhile, David Lemieux is with Quebec-based promoter Yvon Michel and most recently appeared on Showtime.
That doesn’t leave too much for Golovkin within his division.
Since debuting on HBO about two years ago, he’s fought on the network six times, scoring technical knockouts over Gregorz Proksa in September 2012 and Gabriel Rosado in January 2013, putting Matthew Macklin down for the count on a body shot, winning by technical knockout against Curtis Stevens in November 2013 and Daniel Geale in June, and needing less than five minutes to top Marco Antonio Rubio this past Saturday. He’s also had a pair of bouts in-between that weren’t featured on the premium cable outlet: a one-punch knockout of Nobuhiro Ishida in March 2013 and a seventh-round win over Osumanu Adama in February 2014. [Click Here To Read More]
There comes a time, though, when we as boxing fans expect a better product and don’t accept excuses, however valid, for why we are not getting it.
This is the situation that Gennady Golovkin and his team may someday confront.
Golovkin, a middleweight titleholder seen as being perhaps the best in his division, has not yet gotten the opportunity to prove himself so and may not get that opportunity for quite some time.
The lineal champion at 160 — the man who beat the man who beat the man, and so on — is Miguel Cotto, who dethroned Sergio Martinez in June. Perhaps had Martinez been triumphant, he would’ve gone on to defend against Golovkin.
But with Cotto the winner, there was never a chance of him sharing a ring with “GGG.” He’s more likely to take the largest available paydays, and at present that means a potential pay-per-view against Mexican superstar and former junior-middleweight titleholder Canelo Alvarez. Cotto may take a stay-busy fight in the upcoming months before meeting Alvarez in May 2015, coinciding with Cinco de Mayo weekend.
A handful of other middleweights fight on Showtime, while Golovkin has a contract with HBO. Peter Quillin dropped his world title rather than earn a career-high payday to face Matt Korobov, presumably because the bout was not going to air on Showtime, nor was it going to be on a card affiliated with Golden Boy Promotions (with whom he works) or adviser Al Haymon (with whom he is signed).
Quillin could end up facing Daniel Jacobs, who’s also with Haymon. Former champion Jermain Taylor, another Haymon middleweight, is long past his prime but recently picked up a belt with a win over Sam Soliman. He’s not about to be fed to Golovkin either. Farther down the rankings are a couple more Haymon guys at 160: Sergio Mora and prospect Caleb Truax. Haymon and HBO no longer have a working relationship, and Haymon’s plans likely don’t include putting his boxers in with Golovkin. Meanwhile, David Lemieux is with Quebec-based promoter Yvon Michel and most recently appeared on Showtime.
That doesn’t leave too much for Golovkin within his division.
Since debuting on HBO about two years ago, he’s fought on the network six times, scoring technical knockouts over Gregorz Proksa in September 2012 and Gabriel Rosado in January 2013, putting Matthew Macklin down for the count on a body shot, winning by technical knockout against Curtis Stevens in November 2013 and Daniel Geale in June, and needing less than five minutes to top Marco Antonio Rubio this past Saturday. He’s also had a pair of bouts in-between that weren’t featured on the premium cable outlet: a one-punch knockout of Nobuhiro Ishida in March 2013 and a seventh-round win over Osumanu Adama in February 2014. [Click Here To Read More]
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