WBA, IBF, and IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin could fight a different opponent before “GGG” faces WBC middleweight champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, according to Abel Sanchez.

The WBC has given Alvarez an extension to negotiate with Golovkin for the former’s mandatory title defense of his middleweight belt, but with the Mexican champ looking to fight the Kazakh knockout artist in September, boxing fans may have to wait for a while to witness a potential superfight between the two.

However, Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, said the undefeated Kazakh is not worried about not facing Alvarez yet, revealing a list of possible opponents for Trips.

“Right now there is a mandatory fight for Golovkin against Tureano Johnson, his IBF mandatory challenger, and Daniel Jacobs just beat Peter Quillin. He [Jacobs] is with [adviser] Al Haymon,” Sanchez told ESPN Deportes. “I don’t know if we can negotiate with him. [WBO middleweight champion] Andy Lee is also having a big fight with Billy Joe Saunders [on December 19th], so there are possibilities. Canelo is not the only one.”

Boxing Scene reported that Golovkin is set to fight in March. This confirms that Golovkin would fight a different opponent as Alvarez is slated to have his first fight of 2016 in May.

According to Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24, among Golovkin’s possible opponents, Tureano Johnson is the top candidate to fight the Kazakh fighter as the WBC Silver middleweight is the mandatory challenger for Golovkin’s IBF belt. “If the World Boxing Council allows Canelo to hold onto the WBC title without fighting Golovkin next, then we’ll likely see Golovkin facing his IBF mandatory challenger Tureano Johnson next,” Ambrose wrote.

A Golovkin-Tureano fight would probably excite boxing fans, but it would not help in boosting Golovkin’s capability to be a big PPV draw. Golovkin’s recent fight only generated 150,000 PPV buys, which was far from last month’s Cotto-Canelo bout that drew 900,000 PPV earnings. If Golovkin wants to establish himself as one of boxing’s biggest draw, he must fight someone who could draw huge PPV numbers.

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