IBF middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is standing very firm on his position to move forward with a planned mandatory defense against Kamil Szeremeta.
As BoxingScene.com reported a few weeks ago, streaming service DAZN has been pushing for a trilogy fight between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez for the fall.
For a while, Canelo was resistant to a third match – but the Mexican superstar is now fully on board to face Golovkin on a tentative date of September 12.
Golovkin had planned to make his mandatory earlier this year, but the fight was pushed back after GGG withdrew with injury.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has the entire sport of boxing on hold for the moment. The sport, at least in a closed doors setting, is expected to return in some locations in July.
Canelo and Golovkin fought to a controversial twelve round split draw in September of 2017. In the rematch, which took place a year later, Canelo won the middleweight crowd with a majority decision.
Golovkin cautions that once the pandemic clears up enough to schedule a return, he will face Szermeta first. Golovkin also explained that Canelo took a pass on facing him, twice.
“I made a commitment before all this situation with coronavirus happened,” Golovkin said to Sports Illustrated. “I’m talking about my fight with Szeremeta. I intend to keep my word. Once the situation changes, as soon as everything is back to normal, I intend to have this fight first.
“I should point out that there is always two sides. They actually avoided this fight in September. They didn’t want to fight in May of 2020. So I went my way. I have my own career, and I figured: How long should I wait?”
–boxingscene.com
