While unified WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin is busy preparing for his upcoming battle with Kell Brook on September 10, Golovkin is already thinking of his next possible opponent: WBO Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders.
Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler told ESPN that Golovkin's goal is to have all the middleweight titles and is hoping a fight with Saunders happens. Aside from being WBA champion, Golovkin is also the WBC, IBF and IBO Middleweight titleholder.
"From our perspective we hope the fight with Saunders can happen because Gennady's goal is to unify all the belts in the middleweight division," Loeffler said. "We still hold out hopes that the fight with Billy Joe Saunders, or whoever is WBO champion, could be made later this year or early next year."
The ultimate goal for Golovkin is to eventually fight Canelo Alvarez, who is fighting Liam Smith for Smith's WBO Light Middleweight title on September 17. There were talks of having the Golovkin-Canelo fight take place late in 2016, but both sides could not agree to a deal. There is still hope that the fight can still be done in 2017, according to Loeffler.
"Canelo was the first priority and we were working on it since Canelo won the WBC title," Loeffler said. "It was one thing for Canelo talking about fighting Gennady, but he has decided to move back down a division and he has got a lot of criticism for doing that. But I believe that fight will happen in 2017 and it will be the biggest fight in boxing."
Should a Gennady Golovkin-Billy Joe Saunders fight were to occur, the Golovkin camp would not have an issue fighting in Saunders' native United Kingdom. Saunders, who was born in England, last fought in December 2015 in a majority decision victory against Andy Lee for Lee's WBO Middleweight title.
