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Gennady Golovkin considering other options – but seemingly not Spike


Gennady Golovkin has put the world’s top middleweights on high alert by claiming Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez isn’t the only option for September.

However, the name Spike O’Sullivan wasn’t one of the other ‘options’ put forward by the Kazakh’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, after victory over Vanes Martirosyan on Saturday night at StubHub Center.

The Cork middleweight is confident he will fight the winner of the mooted GGG-Canelo rematch providing the pair lock horns again on Mexican Independence Weekend this September.

Spike was also close to fighting the IBF, WBA and WBC 160lbs world champion after Canelo dropped out of their Cinco De Mayo rematch following two failed drug tests.

However, following a reduced offer, O’Sullivan opted to sign a multi-fight deal with Golden Boy Promotions – with Golovkin instead fighting Martirosyan and the Mahon man taking on Berlin Abreu the night before.

The Golovkin-Canelo winner has been the narrative for Spike recently but there has also been an increasing feeling that the superstar pair won’t fight next and that it will be O’Sullivan who faces his Mexican stablemate in September.

One fight which doesn’t look to probable is a Golovkin bout next with the unified champion’s trainer name-dropping other options but omitting both WBO title holder Billy Joe Saunders and O’Sullivan.

“Boxing does not revolve around Canelo,” Sanchez told BoxingScene. “There’s a lot of other good fighters in the middleweight division that deserve a chance or that deserve to fight for a title. The focus needs to be put on the guys at the top.”

“Whether they fight Gennady or they fight each other, if you take Canelo out of the equation, you have [Danny] Jacobs and [Jermall] Charlo that can fight, [Sergey] Derevyanchenko and Gennady that can fight. There’s [Ryota] Murata that’s available.”

“There’s a lot of guys that are available that the public needs to focus on, instead of [Alvarez] refusing to comply with the rules.” 

The fighter himself didn’t mention options by name but did suggest the rematch isn’t the only option on the table – with a big-money fight with Murata in Japan gaining a lot of traction recently.

“Let’s just not put all the eggs in one basket with Canelo. There’s a couple of other good fighters – maybe not as good [for me] financially. But Canelo is not the only option. … There are some other boxers that should be given a chance.”

“Let’s not only talk about Canelo. It’s not only Canelo at this weight.”

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