Floyd Mayweather Jr. has not made an announcement on who he will fight this September in what will likely be the final fight of his career, but Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, the WBA and IBO middleweight champion, issued a very direct statement in an interview with TMZ.
"This is an amazing fight. This is my dream fight," Golovkin told TMZ when asked about fighting Mayweather at a 153-pound catch weight or at the 154-pound junior middleweight limit. "Of course I will beat him, this is boxing. This is business. One hundred percent (I will win, and) I am ready for anybody!"
Mayweather is the WBC champion at 154 pounds, as well as the unified welterweight champion. He has not fought at 154 pounds since facing Canelo Alvarez in September 2013 however; he took on Marcos Maidana twice in 2014 at 147 pounds, and then defeated Manny Pacquiao in May at welterweight. The current frontrunner to face Mayweather in September is another welterweight, Amir Khan, while Golovkin remains on the outside looking in.
In addition to Mayweather, Golovkin has called out numerous fighters with big names. The fight he covets most is a bout with WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, who is looking to finalize a bout vs. Canelo Alvarez instead. Cotto could go as far as dropping his middleweight title altogether to avoid the Golovkin fight; he took a voluntary defense on June 6 vs. Daniel Geale, and had been ordered to face Golovkin next. The WBC has offered to sanction the Alvarez fight if both Cotto and Alvarez guarantee the winner faces Golovkin is next, but Cotto has been reluctant to do so.
Golovkin has also said he's willing to fight WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin, or super middleweight stars Carl Froch and Andre Ward. So far none of the big names have taken the bait, although IBF junior welterweight titlist Erislandy Lara, a similarly avoided fighter for different reasons, called out Golovkin by name after a one-sided win on Friday.
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