Eddie Hearn will not tone down his desire to secure a fight between unbeaten middleweight titlists Demetrius Andrade and Jermall Charlo.
However, the head of Matchroom Boxing has set his sights on another unification bout, one which sports streaming platform DAZN should help force along.
IBF middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin (41-1-1, 36KOs) meets WBA title claimant Ryota Murata (16-2, 13KOs) on December 29 in Saitama, Japan. A lot of talk surrounding the bout has centered around the possibility of Golovkin—with a win—moving forward in a trilogy bout with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs), the four-division champ who is responsible for the only loss and draw on the Ukrainian’s record.
Guadalajara’s Alvarez turned heads during the recent WBC annual convention, where he formally requested a fight with WBC cruiserweight titlist Ilunga ‘Junior’ Makabu (28-3, 25KOs). Should it happen, it forces the hand of Golovkin and everyone else waiting around for a Canelo opponent-sized payday to move forward with their own careers.
That is where Andrade (31-0, 19KOs) hopes to fill a much needed void.
“After the Murata fight, if Gennadiy wins and then doesn’t get the third Canelo fight, the next step is to further unify,” Hearn told BoxingScene.com. “If you’re Gennadiy, that means you only got Charlo and Demetrius.”
Golovkin would likely have to strike a deal with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)—which was once discussed before he decided to work with DAZN—to secure a fight with Charlo. Conversely, Golovkin and Andrade already fight on the same platform and share the same stateside promoter. Providence’s Andrade just fought his sixth main event on DAZN, knocking out Ireland’s Jason Quigley inside of two rounds last month at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, less than two hours from his hometown.
The dominant win came right on time for Andrade, who has shown a tendency to coast versus overmatched opponents. The undefeated two-division titlist and 2008 U.S. Olympian didn’t waste time in getting rid of Quigley, coming seven months after a tougher outing in a still clear cut win over Luke Williams this past April.
“Look, it’s not like Demetrius’s (previous) performances have been the one (for other middleweights) to hide behind their sofas in fear,” notes Hearn. “He’s looked beatable before. Charlo and Golovkin would probably both be favorites in the betting. And they still won’t fight him. But we’ll see. Demetrius wants to unify and has repeated that there are plenty of fights to get done over here (on DAZN). So let’s go make them.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
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