Boxing: Gennady Golovkin Still Has Some Proving to Do

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The steam machine is back again this week -- in the process of turning out stories, podcasts, video streams, tweets, Instagrams and various other social media gadgets or apps that are out there espousing the greatness of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. It makes some sense, since “GGG” will be putting his 21-fight knockout streak on the line against undefeated Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) on HBO this Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

There is no questioning that Golovkin (34-0, 31 knockouts) is one of the best fighters in the world. There is no question that the current proprietor of the IBF and WBA middleweight title belts is boxing’s most devastating puncher. What continues to be missing, however, is the true measure how good Golovkin is, and that is not all Golovkin’s fault.

Hopefully something will be done about it by the end of this year. Golovkin is 34. The last time he went the distance was a unanimous eight-round decision over Amar Amari on June 21, 2008 in Denmark. That was nine months before Wade’s pro debut in March 2009. No one questions that Golovkin is exciting. They just question when he will fight someone that may be able to actually beat him.

There is obvious talk of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, if he gets by Amir Khan on May 7. There has been some hint of moving up to face Andre Ward or Sergey Kovalev. Danny Jacobs’ name has been broached.

“The question is: ‘How difficult is it to keep Gennady motivated when all the names that are mentioned are walking away or running away from him?’ My answer was that it’s not hard to keep him motivated because he is a professional, a true professional, comes to the gym ready to work,” said Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer and the Boxing Writers Association of America’s “Trainer of the Year” for 2015. “Right now, the goal is to gain or to win all the four belts, the major belts, so hopefully this year, that goal will be accomplished and then we can worry about how we keep him motivated next year for the other goals that we have set for ourselves.”

As for Golden Boy Promotions and Alvarez: “No, I really haven’t discussed the topic of Canelo, or regarding Canelo, with Golden Boy,” said Tom Loeffler, of K2 Promotions, Golovkin’s promoter. “We had the meeting with the WBC when Canelo was obligated to fight Gennady by winning the WBC title, but since then, since we had the agreement that he could have one voluntary defense and then would have to fight the winner of Gennady or Dominic Wade, since then we haven’t had any discussions. We figure we’d focus on April 23, they would focus on May 7 and then after those two fights, we’d figure out the situation. It’s pretty open-ended. You see interviews and things of that nature, but we have to go by the WBC mandate and the WBC rules. Again, that’s all a moot point if Gennady doesn’t win April 23. It doesn’t matter what agreement is in place then. Dominic Wade becomes the champion and mandatory contender for the WBC title, so we figure we’ll wait until after the fight, see how everything goes and then at that point we can resume discussions after we get the IBF mandatory out of the way.”

Golovkin does have some business ahead in Wade. It is an issue “GGG” has to remind everyone of, because over the last few years, he has been placed in a position where he is asked more about elite names than about the fighter he is actually going to face. Does he think it is out of fear that some of these name fighters do not want to face him?

“Well, I’ll tell you it’s hard to unify when the other fighters, or the other champions, don’t want to fight Gennady,” Loeffler said. “Gennady and Abel are focused 100 percent on Dominic Wade. It’s part of the obligation being a champion with the IBF, who named Dominic as the mandatory, but it’s my job to look forward and try to secure other opportunities. So we have to give David Lemieux a lot of credit. He was the only champion so far willing to get in the ring with Gennady.

“Canelo’s mandated if Gennady wins in April and Canelo wins in May. He’s mandated to fight for the WBC; and Danny Jacobs, who you mentioned, he’s a great name, as well. He had a big win over Peter Quillin, but again, everyone’s focused right now on Dominic Wade. If he doesn’t win the fight April 23, all the names that I can line up in front of him are meaningless. So everyone’s focused on Wade, and then after that, we’ll see who would actually get in the ring with him if he’s successful.”