Gennady Golovkin didn’t watch 40-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat Conor McGregor on Saturday night.
The undefeated middleweight champion still can see himself fighting until he is Mayweather’s age. Golovkin is 35, but if he beats Canelo Alvarez next month the Kazakh knockout artist probably would need to fight only another year or year-and-a-half if wants to break Bernard Hopkins’ record of 20 straight middleweight title defenses before he retires.
Golovkin has made 18 consecutive defenses of the WBA 160-pound championship he won in August 2010. Nevertheless, Golovkin seemed open to the idea of fighting until he’s 40 when answering questions on a conference call Wednesday to promote his September 16 showdown with Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View; $74.95 in HD).
“Yeah, probably,” Golovkin said. “I hope so. Right now, I feel good. Probably like 40, five years more. You know, this is boxing. Every day [brings] physical danger. Only one punch change life. Right now, I feel great. My speed, everything, is good. My family, my team support me. You know, I feel very comfortable. Probably, yeah, five, six more [years].”
Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, figures it’ll require more high-profile fights to continue motivating Golovkin enough to keep fighting that long.
“I think if we’re able to secure the kind of fights that motivate him mentally – physically, he’s always in shape,” Sanchez said. “All great fighters like that are always in shape. But the mental part of it is so important because you have to be motivated for a fight. If [promoter] Tom [Loeffler] and the Hermann brothers [Golovkin’s managers] and the powers that be can get him the kind of fights that motivate him and reward him to come back in the gym and work just as hard he does for all fights, then yes, I can see him fighting that long. But I think if there’s an if, that’s the big if.”
That decision ultimately will belong to Golovkin.
“If he’s motivated to fight on for another three or four years, then he should,” Sanchez said. “If he doesn’t have it in him, then he shouldn’t. But I think if we do better on the 16th, I think the public will ask for him to fight on. And as long as he keeps fighting the way that I know he can, the public will keep asking for that. Hopefully, Tom can put those together.”
I can’t see Golovkin leaving the middleweight division without unifying all the titles, so he’ll be looking to face the winner of the Saunders-Monroe Jr. bout.
GGG will also be obliged to engage in an immediate rematch against Canelo if he defeats the Mexican in two weeks’ time.
Therefore, he’s likely to continue competing as a 160lb-er for at least three more fights, because this will allow him to also break Bernard Hopkins’ middleweight title defence record.
All three of these bouts will be PPV events, which means they take longer to promote, so the interval between these fights will be longer than his typical schedule.
So assuming that these three fights consume the next twelve months of his career (at least), then GGG may choose to remain as a 160lb-er if he’s unable to secure a massive payday at a higher weight, because by that time, he’ll be tantalisingly close to breaking one of Bernard Hopkins’ other records, which is the longest middleweight title reign.
I reckon if GGG is able to avoid defeat, he’ll likely continue his career for at least three more years. A loss will force him to consider retirement if the nature of his defeat prevents him from securing decent paydays in the future.
His style doesn't seem fit for someone in their late 30s. I feel he may have a couple, if that, prime fights left. He might be starting to slide already. We'll see come 2 weeks.
Guys like golovkin historically can drop in standard as they age. I really think the hopkins mould is one for longevity, doesn't rely on physical attributes, technically very good, great ring craft, stay out of trouble.
Talk of fighting to 40 is pretty pie in the sky while your next fight is ten times bigger than any other bout you've had
Impractical Poster wrote:His style doesn't seem fit for someone in their late 30s. I feel he may have a couple, if that, prime fights left. He might be starting to slide already. We'll see come 2 weeks.
IMO GGG has had some slippage in his past 2 bouts (Brook & Jacobs), so unless those performances were just a bump in the road it's hard to imagine him going til 40. Like you say, the Canelo fight will tell us a lot!!
Ossyrules wrote:Guys like golovkin historically can drop in standard as they age. I really think the hopkins mould is one for longevity, doesn't rely on physical attributes, technically very good, great ring craft, stay out of trouble.
Talk of fighting to 40 is pretty pie in the sky while your next fight is ten times bigger than any other bout you've had
...and your opponent is head & shoulders above ANYONE you've fought before!!
Ossyrules wrote:Guys like golovkin historically can drop in standard as they age. I really think the hopkins mould is one for longevity, doesn't rely on physical attributes, technically very good, great ring craft, stay out of trouble.
Talk of fighting to 40 is pretty pie in the sky while your next fight is ten times bigger than any other bout you've had
...and your opponent is head & shoulders above ANYONE you've fought before!!
Jacobs would beat Canelo. I wouldn't be surprised if Lemieux did too.
Ossyrules wrote:Guys like golovkin historically can drop in standard as they age. I really think the hopkins mould is one for longevity, doesn't rely on physical attributes, technically very good, great ring craft, stay out of trouble.
Talk of fighting to 40 is pretty pie in the sky while your next fight is ten times bigger than any other bout you've had
...and your opponent is head & shoulders above ANYONE you've fought before!!
Jacobs would beat Canelo. I wouldn't be surprised if Lemieux did too.
No chance Lemieux would beat Canelo. Lemieux sucks!
Ossyrules wrote:Guys like golovkin historically can drop in standard as they age. I really think the hopkins mould is one for longevity, doesn't rely on physical attributes, technically very good, great ring craft, stay out of trouble.
Talk of fighting to 40 is pretty pie in the sky while your next fight is ten times bigger than any other bout you've had
...and your opponent is head & shoulders above ANYONE you've fought before!!
Jacobs would beat Canelo. I wouldn't be surprised if Lemieux did too.
I don't think Lemieux would have much more than a puncher's chance against Canelo, but I'd definitely favour Jacobs to beat Canelo at 160lb. I'd favour Canelo to beat Brook right now at 154-160lb, but I think the Brook of the Golovkin fight would have a very good chance of beating Canelo.
boxing_rocks wrote:
Jacobs would beat Canelo. I wouldn't be surprised if Lemieux did too.
No chance Lemieux would beat Canelo. Lemieux sucks!
Lemieux would beat all Canelo's opponents he has a W against except Lara. Canelo didn't beat Lara either.
If we are talking his opponents and not him (Canelo). I would favour...at the age Canelo fought them...old Cotto, Trout, old Mosley, yes Lara as you said....who else....although Chavez is shot, he could at least soak up the damage Lemieux would do to him, Lemieux could very realistically punch himself out in 4, visibly tire and Chavez could come on...bit of wishful thinking that one but still thats what i think of Lemieux.
Not sure about favouring Mosley. He was significantly smaller, already two years removed from the Mora draw, and barely beat Pablo Cano in his next fight after Canelo. A few months after that he got stopped by Mundine...
