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Boxing

18th Feb 2015

KO machine Gennady Golovkin wants to fight winner of Andy Lee v Peter Quillin

Billy Joe Saunders may have other ideas

Sean Nolan

The fearsome Kazakh fights Martin Murray on Saturday

WBA and WBC interim world middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin is arguably the most exciting fighter in the game. With a knockout record that reads 28 from 31 bouts, the 32-year-old is box office, even if his power means his fights rarely last too long.

Golovkin is due in the ring again on Saturday, in Monte Carlo, against English fighter Martin Murray and he is expected to come through with another win. However, it is who he wants to fight next that really interests us.

His manager Max Herman told ESPN:

“He hopes in the future to fight against Andy Lee and of course there could be a potential fight with [Carl] Froch. Absolutely he could fight in the UK one day if there’s a good opponent – maybe Carl Froch or maybe Andy Lee, it depends.

“He would love to fight the Lee-Quillin winner because he wants to unify the world titles. He’s mandatory challenger for Miguel Cotto but I don’t think that fight will happen soon.”

Of course, mandatory challenger to Lee’s WBO title Billy Joe Saunders only allowed the Limerick man to fight Quillan on the basis that he would get a shot at the winner. Saunders said last week: “I have a signed contract with the WBO to fight the winner out of Lee and Quillin and I want to go down that route”,

However, this is boxing and anything is possible, especially for what would be a blockbuster title unification fight.

After dismissing the possibility of fighting Floyd Mayweather (‘fantasy’) Herman siad: “Carl Froch and Andy Lee are definitely more realistic. Andre Ward has not fought since November 2013 so he hasn’t fought for 18 months now and he will want a tune-up fight when he comes back and then we will need to then build up the fight with Gennady. It takes time to do all that but 2016 it’s [a fight against Ward] a fight that is realistic for Gennady.”

Whatever plays out, it looks like fight fans will have some great fights coming up over the next 12 months.