New Year & Same Groundhog’s Day for Gennady Golovkin

By Jesse “New School” Wright

For Gennady Golovkin, the new year brings a new chapter of the same old story. For a guy whose mission statement is simply “All the belts,” things have once again gotten overly complicated. He’s already been denied a shot at the WBC championship held by Canelo Alvarez in favor of each fighter having another fight to build publicity first. Now Golovkin is taking the practical route by starting negotiations for a unification bout with recently crowned WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders.

Let’s be honest here; this deal may have been dead before it even started. Golovkin has so much heat that just mentioning his name will build a fighter’s reputation. Here are two points for Billy Joe Saunders to consider

1. Don’t fight for a belt that represents you as the best if you aren’t willing to defend it against the best. That belt is meant for champions which means you have to beat everyone to be entitled to it.

2. It’s going to hurt your reputation to start negotiations and not finish them. It would’ve been better to avoid Golovkin like the plague than to flirt with the notion of actually fighting him.
These tactics of fighters playing keep away with championship belts are terrible for the sport of boxing. What’s worse is it’s confusing. I don’t blame casual sports fans who find it hard to follow boxing. Could you imagine if the Golden State Warriors were in the NBA playoffs and just decided that they didn’t want to play the Clippers so they just skipped over them? It’s the same thing in boxing as it is a sport with an infinite playoff system.

Saunders made a remark that there is more money in a Chris Eubank, JR. rematch than a Golovkin fight. Perhaps if they were to have an all England fight in a stadium, there would be more money at the gate due to the venue being larger and both fighters drawing out their fans. That would probably explain why Saunders said he would accept less on the up front split if they fought in England. There’s some home cooking in it for Saunders, but it’s also a bigger short and long term financial gain if he showcases to his own fan base.

Golovkin should pounce on the option to concede home ring advantage in order to lure Saunders in to the ring. It’s a win situation for Golovkin. The draw at the gate of a venue such as Wembley Stadium would be massive. It makes sense financially, but it also gives Golovkin an opportunity to expand his fan base which he has always done when fighting in new towns, states, or in this case, countries. What’s most important, it might be the only way to acquire the belt he claims to cherish so much. If the Saunders camp is just bluffing through these negotiations, which is highly likely, then this is just going to be another of many wild goose chases of boxing. However, if the venue of the potential fight is the make or break bargaining point, we can all pack our bags for London in April because this fight will be on.

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