Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, the consensus top middleweight in the world, will be in the ring vs. Marco Antonio Rubio on October 18 with his WBA and IBO titles on the line, with an opportunity to add Rubio's IBF strap to his collection.
After earning his 27th knockout victory over Daniel Geale in July, however, Golovkin had set his sights higher. In a post fight interview Golovkin called out WBC champion Miguel Cotto and WBO belt holder Peter Quillin, but Cotto is taking the rest of 2014 off while Quillin appears headed toward a Brooklyn clash with Daniel Jacobs.
Previously, Golovkin had been in talks with super middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., which would rank as his highest-profile opponent to date, but the negotiations fell apart because of Chavez's contractual problems with Top Rank.
The contract issues haven't been solved, but Chavez recently stated he's very interested in fighting Golovkin.
"To make that fight everyone must come to an agreement, but Top Rank wanted a contract extension. I wanted to fight him, but I have to think about my future," Chavez said.
"In fact the bout with Golovkin has not fallen off, I can still fight him. The fight with Golovkin can happen later this year or in early 2015. It's not that I didn't want to face him, there were contract issues. In fact I was really excited to face Golovkin because everyone wants to see that fight.
"He is a great fighter and people are speculating who can handle him, and that has to be someone with a good chin. And that's me."
The WBC has ordered Cotto to defend his title against the Golovkin vs. Rubio winner, but Chavez Jr. is an opponent near Cotto's level of celebrity. Cotto's camp has made it clear they prefer facing Canelo Alvarez in his next fight, which raises a big question.
If Cotto defeats Alvarez, and Golovkin beats Chavez Jr., would it be better business to take those risks and create and even larger potential showdown for multiple middleweight belts?
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