Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin, one of the rising stars not only in his division but the entire sport, says that he won’t fight Manny Pacquiao because the Filipino pugilist is just “too small.” The Kazakh fighter also stated that if Floyd Mayweather Jr. unretires, the undefeated American would be his first option and not Pacquiao.

“Manny’s too small,” Golovkin stated to TMZ.com when asked about the possibility of a match-up with the Filipino, who campaigns in the welterweight division or the 147-pound limit, while the Kazakh fighter is fighting at the middleweight division or the 160-pound limit.

Golovkin (33-0-0, 30 knockouts) will face David Lemieux (34-2-0, 31 knockouts) of Canada on Oct. 17 at the Madison Square Garden in New York, U.S.A. The fight will be for multiple boxing titles, the International Boxing Federation, International Boxing Organization, interim World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association middleweight championships.

Golovkin, who is a known power puncher, has won his last 13 fights vie knockout, technical knockout or a referee technical decision. A pairing with Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) would be an exciting match-up considering both fighters are known for their KO prowess and tendency to slug it out in the middle of the ring.

While Golovkin is looking forward to a probable match-up with the undefeated Mayweather Jr., who has announced his official retirement from the sport after beating Andre Berto in September, the Kazakh fighter stated that he is not looking past Canadian boxer Lemieux, who is also known as a power punching beating opponents via KO/TKO in three of his last four and six of his last eight bouts.

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