Gennady Golovkin has some gripes about the way boxing is handled. Not the competition in the ring itself, but what goes on in arranging top bouts.
“Triple G” was not facing a highly ranked opponent yesterday, with his fight against Steve Rolls at Madison Square Garden starting after press time last night, although Rolls was undefeated.
Yes, there have been a bunch of megafights in the past two years, and a third Canelo Alvarez-Golovkin middleweight classic could be ahead if Triple G handles Rolls, but there also are the lopsided matchups that, in Triple G’s estimation, do not advance the sport.
Photo: AP
“I can’t change many things when you look at what boxing is now,” said Golovkin, who for a rare moment had no titles as he prepared to take on his Canadian opponent. “It seems [people] are more looking from the standpoint of money and profit and boxing being more of a business than sport. That’s what needs to change the most.”
“It’s bad for the athletes and for sports in general, this situation,” he said.
In some weight classes, it is unavoidable: There simply are not enough quality fighters to set up attractive bouts. That is not true at all among the middleweights, super middleweights, welterweights, lightweights and featherweights. Plus, Andy Ruiz Jr’s mammoth upset of Anthony Joshua for four heavyweight belts last weekend at the Garden has added some pop to the most ballyhooed division.
So top-flight fights should be the rule, not the exception, in those loaded divisions, Golovkin said.
Triple G-Canelo would be as popular as any potential match and they both have lucrative contracts with DAZN, which streamed yesterday’s feature attraction. Alvarez also took on one of the division’s best when he defended his titles in a close bout with Daniel Jacobs, who also had a tight loss to Golovkin.
That is exactly what the Kazakh star (38-1-1, 34 KOs) wants to see: premier bouts.
“When we signed the new deal with DAZN, we were looking for who would fit, who would fit at the Garden,” said Tom Loeffler, Kolovkin’s promoter. “It was kind of a short period of time in terms of announcing the fight. And we went through a list of names. A lot of guys weren’t available. Lou [DiBella, Rolls’ promoter] knew that we were looking for a fight; he called me... As soon as that fight was proposed, Steve Rolls [19-0, 10 KOs] signed on the dotted line. He had no hesitation.”
“He’s undefeated. He’s from Canada. DAZN is trying to expand their business worldwide and they like the fact that he’s from Canada to increase the subscription base up there in Canada. So that’s how that came together,” Loeffler said.
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