Boxing News: Gennady Golovkin eyes unification of all middleweight titles
Gennady Golovkin has appeared victorious in his first pay-per-view fight with HBO after decimating David Lemieux via stoppage at the eighth round of their unification title bout in a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Golovkin (34-0 31 KOs) now holds the World Boxing Federation, World Boxing Council, and International Boxing Federation middleweight championships, but the undefeated Kazakh wants more than the three belts he currently has.
"I want all the belts, now I have two,” Golovkin said, reports Yahoo Sports. “[I want] the winner of Cotto-Canelo, for sure.”
Golovkin is set to fight the winner of November’s boxing match between World Boxing Council middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Cotto will defend his title against Canelo, and the winner will take on Golovkin next year for the title of undisputed middleweight champ.
Golden Boy Promotions boss, Oscar De La Hoya, recently announced that a fight between Golovkin and Canelo should be made, and that it will “eventually” happen. However, Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24 interprets De La Hoya’s statement as a signal that the possible superfight between two of today’s boxing superstars will not happen soon.
However, if the winner of the Canelo-Cotto clash will not be available for Golovkin, the backup plan is to fight the victor between Andy Lee and Billy Joe Saunders, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
Golovkin is a knockout artist who won every round in front of more than 20,000 fans at the Madison Square Garden. “GGG” floored Lemieux in the fourth round and bloodied the Canadian fighter until referee Steve Willis intervened at the 1 minute and 32nd mark of round 8.
Golovkin, who has now stopped 21 consecutive opponents inside the distance, said he respects the strength of Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs). Lemieux was upset with the timing of the stoppage, even though it spared him a potential career-ending punishment from the hands of the Kazakh fighter.
“He’s a good fighter, a great champion,” Lemieux said, The Guardian reports. “I wanted to extend the fight a little bit longer but the referee didn’t see it the same way and that was it.”
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