Gennadiy Golovkin's team has a warning for the "flashy" Chris Eubank Jr, who aspires to challenge GGG: "He hasn't lost his punching power!"; Liam Smith will be a formidable obstacle to Eubank's pursuit of a world title shot when they fight on January 21, live on Sky Sports Box Office
Saturday 14 January 2023 07:06, UK
Chris Eubank Jr’s call for a shot at Gennadiy Golovkin this summer has caught the attention of the unified middleweight champion’s team.
Tom Loeffler, who represents Golovkin, has told Sky Sports a potential fight is an "interesting" option for the great Kazakh this year.
Golovkin lost his last fight to Canelo Alvarez on a points decision in September, but that was up at super-middleweight. He still holds the WBA and IBF titles at 160lbs, the weight class where Eubank Jr will fight Liam Smith on January 21.
Eubank wants to use that occasion, live on Sky Sports Box Office from the AO Arena in Manchester, to set himself up for a fight with Golovkin.
"Eubank is flashy and popular. He could be the rising star," Loeffler said. "When you look at a legend, I'd say GGG is a legend of the middleweight division.
"Eubank Jr I would describe as a rising star and GGG is a legend.
"You never know down the road that could be an interesting fight, if that's something that Gennadiy's interested in doing.
"Eubank Jr has a name," Loeffler continued. "He's building his brand. It really depends on what Gennadiy plans to do. He's the one that makes all the decisions for his career. I know he's got a mandatory coming up, so most likely he'll go in that direction to defend his title against the mandatory and then after that you never know.
"There's a number of big names out there that could make sense for him. It's really one step at a time."
It's one step at a time for Eubank Jr too. Liam Smith, a former super-welterweight world champion who's stepped up to middleweight, will be ferociously competitive on January 21.
Middleweight certainly will be the division where Golovkin will continue to box, after having his third fight with Alvarez up at super-middle.
"That was the first time I think Canelo really beat him in the ring. I felt [Golovkin] clearly won the first fight, the second fight was very close, it could have been a draw, so he's reacted fine. He knows he matched up with Canelo well," Loeffler said. "[Golovkin] is going to fight at middleweight. But he hasn't decided what he's going to do next.
"When you've dedicated so much time and effort into your boxing career, it's nice to be able to take some time and spend it with the family. So as soon as he decides what he wants to do, he'll make the announcement on his side."
Returning to the UK, however, is appealing. Golovkin boxed in London back in 2016 in an exciting clash with Kell Brook.
"He loves all of his international fans," Loeffler said. "The UK boxing fans are some of the best educated in the world and the sport is so beloved over there and so the reception we got over there, even though we were fighting Kell Brook, it was a tremendous reception
"So I know he's open to fighting in places that make the most sense for his career. I'm sure he wouldn't opposed to going back to the UK at all."
That occasion was also Eubank's first opportunity to meet "GGG." They were negotiating to fight in 2016 and when that fell through, Brook stepped in to box Golovkin instead.
"Gennadiy's always been open to travelling. When we couldn't get people to fight him in the ring, we'd have to go to different places, we went to the O2 and sold out the O2 after Eubank Jr turned him down," Loeffler added.
"Kell Brook stepped up and we sold out the O2. [Last year Golovkin] went to Tokyo and sold out the arena over there, so the legend of 'GGG' on a worldwide basis is still there. To beat an existing champion over there in [Ryota] Murata, one of the national heroes in Japan, was a huge accomplishment.
"He's still a middleweight champion, he still holds titles at middleweight and I expect him to defend the title at middleweight moving forward."
Golovkin remains a man in demand, even during his time out from the sport over last few months.
"It's a lot easier to make the fights now than when he was first coming up on HBO and people were literally vacating titles, world titles, unprecedented, vacating world titles in order not to fight him when he was mandatory," Loeffler said.
"It's funny how, now Gennadiy's turning 41, all of a sudden they're calling him out."
But he had warning for Golovkin's aspiring challengers, including Eubank Jr. "He hasn't lost his punching power," Loeffler said, "that's for sure."
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith is on Saturday January 21, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book it now if you are a Sky TV subscriber or a Non-Sky TV subscriber. Buy tickets here.
