By: Sean Crose
“It’s no secret,” Gennady Golovkin said on Monday, “I had other offers from other companies. Right now I have the best partner that will let me now promote fighters on GGG Promotions and me as a fighter.” Golovkin had gathered together with Brian Kenny, trainer Abel Sanchez, DAZN honcho John Skipper, and a translator at LA’s Conga Room to promote his new deal with the DAZN streaming service. The contract with DAZN, which covers six Golovkin fights as well as bouts for the boxers Golovkin plans to promote, has been highly touted, as Golovkin is one of the most well regarded and popular fighters in the sport. “I hope I can do six fights,” Golovkin said. “I feel great! After six fights I’ll see what I can do, but have to focus on these six fights.”
“I had a chance to meet his wife and had a chance to see his new son,” Skipper, who is DAZN’s Group Executive Chairman, said of the leadup to the lucrative deal. “This took a long (time) because this is a lifetime decision. This is a moment in boxing where I think things are changing and what I think we will be able to do is bring the best fights back to fans and Gennady wanted to be part of that. It was complicated and it’s (a) decision he’s making on his life.”
The conversation, of course, got around to a potential third fight between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, who also now fights on DAZN.
“Our intention is to bring fans the best fights and the fights they most want to see,” said Skipper. “A third fight between Gennady and Canelo is what fans want to see. We’re focused right now on May 4 with Canelo and Daniel Jacobs. Jacobs happens to be a DAZN fighter and we’re focused on the fight Gennady will have in June, which we also expect to be a difficult fight. He’s only interested in fighting appropriate opponents. So we’re going to focus on those fights and see what happens.”
Now that he’s in his late 30s, there are those who feel Golovkin is past his prime, whether he has a lucrative streaming deal or not. Yet Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, claimed he hasn’t noticed any slippage in the ring. “I can only gauge in the fight,”Sanchez said of his fighter. “There’s not anyone that has dominated him or in the gym. He’s fighting at his top level. I imagine there’s but until someone proves it to me in the ring I have to say no.”