WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) says he’d be willing to move up to super middleweight (168 pounds) for a pay-per-view fight against the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. However, Golovkin says it would have to be for a pay-per-view fight against an opponent that is a pay-per-view fighter.
Golovkin says wouldn’t be interested in moving up to 168 to fight Andre Ward, because he doesn’t see him as a PPV type of fighter. In other words, Golovkin only wants to move up to super middleweight against a big name for big money on PPV. He’s not just going to move up in weight to face someone without a large fan base.
When asked by Round by Round Boxing if he’d be willing to move up to the 168 pound division, Golovkin said “Yes, for pay-per-view fight. Chavez Jr, he’s a pay-per-view fighter. Andre Ward, he’s not a pay-per-view fighter. Maybe in the future, yeah,” Golovkin said.
Chavez Jr had the chance to fight Golovkin this year, but instead Chavez Jr opted not to take the fight. As of now, Chavez Jr has been out of the ring since March of 2014. He doesn’t currently have a fight scheduled for 2015, and it’s quite possible that he’ll be out of the ring for a while unless he winds up facing IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch in early 2015.
Golovkin will be fighting #1 WBC Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) on February 21st in a non-pay-per-view fight on HBO from the Salle des etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco. Murray isn’t a big enough name to make this fight a PPV fight on HBO. Golovkin is hoping that a win over Murray will lead him to a fight against WBC champion Miguel Cotto or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez if he winds up facing Cotto and beating him in early 2015. Golovkin is the WBC interim middleweight champion after his 2nd round knockout win over Marco Antonio Rubio last October.
Golovkin vs. the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight would definitely be a pay-per-view bout on HBO, and it would likely generate a lot of interest. The only question is would either Cotto or Canelo be willing to face Golovkin. The two fighters are considered to be very high quality fighters by a lot of boxing fans, but neither of them are legitimate middleweights. Unless the Cotto-Canelo winner could get Golovkin to agree to a strength draining catch-weight, they’d likely be in deep trouble against a puncher like him.
