Gennady "GGG" Golovkin's star is rising and after earing his 19th consecutive knockout victory last Saturday vs. Martin Murray, he called out WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto for a unification title fight. While Cotto hasn't shown much enthusiasm for such a bout, the WBC soon won't be leaving him with a choice.
Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, said that Cotto will be allowed a voluntary defense, but after that the winner will have to grant Golovkin his wish.
"Miguel Cotto will have a voluntary defense. He will choose his rival. But the winner will have to face Golovkin," Sulaiman said.
In a WBC.com report welterweight Timothy Bradley and junior middleweight Erislandy Lara were both mentioned as possible opponents for Cotto's next bout, which is expected to happen in June at Madison Square Garden. Cotto has become a premier draw at MSG, especially during the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.
Other names have cropped up too, such as welterweight brawler Brandon Rios, owner of one of boxing's strongest chins, and welterweight Amir Khan who has said he'd love to fight at a catch weight of 155 pounds.
Golovkin remains the fight fans want most though, and he's so eager to get it done his promoter Tom Loeffler has openly admitted they will proceed in negotiations with Cotto as the A-side. "We're prepared to make significant concessions to get Cotto into the ring to get this fight done," Loeffler said.
Before the Murray fight, Golovkin discussed with more length the types of fights he craves going forward. He has received some criticism despite his fan-friendly style and extended knockout streak for facing lesser opposition. To his credit, he's frequently called out top fighters and received little or no interest from them.
"I hope that it happens next, this is the fight that I want," Golovkin said. "This would be a very good fight for the fans, for television. I said that I want a pay-per-view fight this year. I want fights like Cotto, Canelo, Chavez. Cotto is the WBC champion. I want to get all of the titles at middleweight, so of course I want this fight to happen."
[WBC]
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