While middleweight Gennady Golovkin, almost certainly the most feared fighter in boxing, has a pair of knockout wins in 2016, this year will likely be remembered as one of the most disappointing of his career. Golovkin, given the chance, has said he would fight anybody in the division, and it?s not difficult to believe him. But even though Golovkin dominated Dominic Wade with a second-round knockout in April and overcame a shaky early start before breaking Kell Brook?s orbital bone in a fifth-round stoppage last month, Golovkin simply can?t land a career-defining fight.
Sure, Golovkin has made good money this year ? he earned a $2 million purse for the Wade fight and reportedly took home between $3-5 million to travel to the U.K. to fight Brook ? but he?s still not getting the fights he and the boxing public want.
The latest potential disappointment is the mandatory matchup for a middleweight title against Daniel Jacobs, but this entire year has been a struggle to land Golovkin a fight that could make him a crossover star. Now that Golovkin won?t fight for the rest of 2016 ? his promoter, Tom Loeffler, said the original HBO date of Dec. 10 is no longer in play and that he?s now negotiating a deal with Jacobs for early 2017 ? let?s take a quick look back at the Golovkin misses this year.
Canelo Alvarez: After Alvarez, still the recognized middleweight champ despite the fact Golovkin holds 75% of the division?s title belts, knocked out Amir Khan in May, he invited Golovkin into the ring and declared he would grant Golovkin a fight. Less than two weeks later, Alvarez abdicated the middleweight belt he held and made plans to move down in weight to fight junior middleweight titlist Liam Smith. Alvarez was widely ridiculed for his bait-and-switch, and though promoter Oscar De La Hoya ? who said he?s offered an eight-figure deal to Golovkin ? still says Alvarez will fight Golovkin in September 2017, the optics of Alvarez blatantly ducking Golovkin have been devastating to Alvarez?s reputation.
Billy Joe Saunders: Besides Golovkin, he?s the only other middleweight to hold a title belt, but his reputation has been scarred like Alvarez?s. That?s because Saunders has called out Golovkin and then taken other fights (even after he was reportedly offered $2.7 million to face Golovkin). His latest offer came after Golovkin beat Brook.
