Gennady "GGG" Golovkin would have conceded quite a bit in the past to get in the ring with WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. Golovkin, the WBA and IBO champion, has been desperately seeking a big name to fight for a few years, and they have all avoided him.
Golovkin has pursued Cotto the hardest, but he's instead taken significant time off, fought Daniel Geale, whom Golovkin knocked out in 2014, and is now facing Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Golovkin has kept busy, kept knocking out opponents, and now is breaking pre-sale records for his scheduled October title defense vs. IBF champion David Lemieux. The sales are proving his drawing power-at Cotto's Madison Square Garden stomping grounds no less-and now his concessions may be pulled back.
Golovkin Crushing Ticket Sales For MSG Fight vs. Lemieux
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has mandated the Cotto-Alvarez winner fight Golovkin next for the strap. Golovkin's manager Tom Loeffler is saying that he won't agree to the catch weights Cotto has imposed on Geale, and Sergio Martinez before him. The Martinez bout took place at 159 pounds, one below the middleweight limit. Geale was forced to weigh in at 157 pounds.
"He's [Golovkin] the mandatory for that fight. Whatever the negotiations are, it's for the middleweight championship, the fight will be at 160," Loeffler said via Boxing Scene.
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Golovkin is in lock step, and talked about the significance of fighting at the correct weight.
"There's history at middleweight. Miguel is champion at 160. I want the WBC belt. I need the WBC belt. We fight at 160."
Cotto is receiving criticism for his catch weights, and liberally exercising his rights as an A-side fighter, but his upcoming fight with Alvarez is a 50-50 fight at best, with the odds likely to lean in the younger Alvarez's favor. Should Alvarez win, he too may insist on a catch weight having never fought at 160 pounds before.
Also, Golovkin's fight with Lemieux will not be a cake walk, even if he's a heavy favorite. Lemieux, at 34-2, has more knockouts than Golovkin does. He knocked down Hassan N'Dam six times en route to a decision victory to claim his IBF belt.
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