Gennadiy Golovkin should have been awarded at least one victory over Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, according to the promoter of his next opponent, Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
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Golovkin drew the first of two classic middleweight world title fights with Canelo, then lost the rematch via majority decision.
He aims to reclaim the IBF belt, which was recently stripped from Canelo, when he meets Derevyanchenko on October 5 at New York's Madison Square Garden in a fight that will be co-promoted by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing.
"Canelo is one of the best fighters in the world. But anybody who knows anything about boxing knows that, at worst, when Canelo and GGG met it was 1-1," said Derevyanchenko's promoter Lou DiBella.
"GGG has every reason to believe it was 2-0."
Canelo, who still holds WBA and WBC middleweight gold, was stripped by the IBF earlier this month for failing to agree a defence against mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko. Canelo is still without an opponent but has been targeted by Sergey Kovalev, who first defends his WBO light-heavyweight title against Anthony Yarde.
"It doesn't matter about contracts, you can't force a man to go into the ring and fight another man if he doesn't want to," said DiBella about Derevyanchenko's inability to lure Canelo.
Golovkin, last year, was also stripped of the IBF middleweight title for not fighting mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko.
"GGG opted not to fight Derevyanchenko at that time because the second Canelo was looming," explained his representative Tom Loeffler.
"People said: 'GGG thinks it's too dangerous, he doesn't want to fight Derevyanchenko, he is afraid'.
"I can tell you that GGG hasn't ducked anyone.
"GGG hasn't lost a fight in the ring - he might have lost on the scorecards, by one point in the last round."
Golovkin, 37, replaced his long-time trainer Abel Sanchez with Johnathon Banks earlier this year and has since knocked out Steve Rolls.
"His time is coming to an end," warned Derevyanchenko whose only pro loss came against Danny Jacobs in his first IBF title opportunity last year.
"This is one of the three hardest fights GGG has ever walked into the ring for," Derevyanchenko's promoter DiBella added.
Golovkin said: "This is no game, this is a real fight. He looks good, he looks strong, he feels that it's his time. Maybe…"
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