Even the biggest fans of Gennadiy Golovkin are clueless as to what’s going on. In September of 2022, the former Olympic silver medalist attempted to even the score with Canelo Alvarez. But after coming short, the former unified champ at 160 pounds has seemingly crawled underneath a rock and ostensibly disappeared.
For Golovkin, his trip to the super middleweight division against Alvarez was only intended to be temporary. Even after taking his latest loss on the chin, a defeated but determined Golovkin vowed to return to 160 pounds and defend his throne. Having had some time to think things through, however, he seemingly has had a change of mind.
His WBA title? Taken off the lifeless body of Ryota Murata…vacated. His shiny IBF belt? Won after a hard-fought showdown against Sergiy Derevyanchenko…also vacated.
Now beltless, all signs point to Golovkin possibly hanging up his gloves for good. Eddie Hearn, on the other hand, has a feeling that Golovkin is simply gearing up for another championship run in another weight class.
“I haven’t talked to him in much depth about his career,” said Hearn recently to BoxingScene.com. “But the impression that I get is that he definitely wants to continue fighting. I think at 168, he was 160 for a long time.”
There are pros and cons when it comes to winning a world title. Let’s break them down.
Pros:
Becoming a household name
Achieving a lifelong dream
Having the ability to concretely say that you are arguably the best in the division
Cons:
Well, there are a lot to name but being forced to face an endless parade of mandatories ranks near the top
Hearn, having worked with Golovkin, sympathized with the former champion. Before officially chucking his titles away, Golovkin was ordered by the IBF to defend his belt against Esquiva Falcao. Also, in the same breath, Golovkin was ordered to take on Erislandy Lara by the WBA.
None of those options, at least according to Hearn, motivated Golovkin enough to roll out of bed and make those aforementioned defenses. At this point, who needs those shiny belts that come with an expensive price tag and a long list of things to do? Considering the legendary career he’s already put together, Hearn is convinced that those discarded world titles are essentially extraneous in the grand scheme of things.
“I think part of Gennadiy Golovkin is like ‘look, I don’t want to fight Falcao, I don’t want to fight Lara, so I don’t need the belts. My name carries enough value.’”
By Hans Themistode