Just six weeks away from his 39th birthday, IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s career at top level would appear to be winding down.
With a trilogy fight against nemesis Canelo Alvarez not likely until 2022 at the earliest, due to the Mexican’s imminent focus on unifications at 168lbs, Golovkin needs a new challenge against a big-name opponent. According to promoter Eddie Hearn, who works with Golovkin on streaming network DAZN, that could be former WBO 154lbs champion Jaime Munguia.
Back in 2018, Munguia was in the frame to fight Kazakh Golovkin but the Nevada State Athletic Commission refused to sanction the contest due to the Mexican’s limited experience at the time. Now that fight has increased value after the crowd-pleasing Munguia proved his credentials at world level and moved permanently to middleweight.
“I think the [fight] that stands out not just in terms of boxing but for DAZN is Golovkin vs Jaimie Munguia,” Hearn told DAZN. “I think that’s a great fight for the division, I think it’s an all-action fight.
“This is a big year for Gennady because he is approaching the back end of his career. He’s an unbelievable fighter and an unbelievable person, and he wants to be involved in the big fights. I think now with the global platform of DAZN, we need to be looking at all these stars.
“I think Canelo has made it clear that he wants to become the undisputed champion at 168. The Golovkin fight, of course, it’s there for me. It’s one of the best fights in boxing. Gennady would need to come up to 168, which he would be willing to do. I don’t think that [Canelo] fight by any means is out of the equation, but obviously Gennady is in a position with his career where he wants those big fights as soon as possible.”