Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn wants to negotiate a unification fight for DAZN between WBO middleweight champion Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade (29-0. 18 KOs) and IBF champ Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) for next year.
Golovkin and Andrade need a big fight, as both have been ignored by Canelo Alvarez, who is trying to become the undisputed super middleweight champion in 2021.
As long as Andrade, 32, and Golovkin are on board with making the fight, it shouldn’t be a problem for Hearn to negotiate the match.
Golovkin took care of his IBF mandatory in knocking out Kamil Szeremeta on December 18th in an impressive performance from the Kazakh in Hollywood, Florida.
“I’ll be saying to DAZN, ‘You have a contract with Andrade, you have a contract with Golovkin, let’s put these guys together,” said Hearn to the AK and Barak show @SiriusXMBoxing.
If Golovkin, 38, doesn’t defend his IBF title against former WBO 154lb champion Jaime Munguia next May, Andrade would be an excellent option.
It was reported last week that if GGG can’t get a fight against Munguia (36-0, 29 KOs), then he would face WBA middleweight champion Ryota Murata (16-2, 13 KOs).
It’s unclear whether a fight between Murata, who fights on ESPN and Golovkin would be one that can be negotiated without a lot of hard work. It would seem a lot easier for Golovkin to take on Andrade since both guys fight on DAZN and share the same promoter in Eddie Hearn.
Andrade is supposed to be defending his WBO title against mandatory Liam Williams (23-2-1, 18 KOs) next. That’s not a high-level fight, though, as far as attracting interest from US boxing fans.
If Andrade can get the green light from the World Boxing Organization to let him face GGG in a unification, it would be an interesting match for early 2021 for DAZN.
Andrade has fought once this year, defeating contender Luke Keeler by a ninth-round knockout on January 30th. That was a stay busy fight for Andrade with him toying with Keeler before knocking him out in the ninth.
Since that fight, Andrade has expressed interest in going up to 168 to take on WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, but the fight hasn’t happened.
Saunders is now expected to face WBA/WBC 168-lb Canelo next May in a unification fight on the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend. He’s not going to want to risk that fight by taking on Andrade.
Hearn is negotiating a two-fight deal with Canelo to fight on DAZN. If the deal gets completed, the first fight for Alvarez will be against Avni Yildirim on February 27th, and then the second one against Saunders in May.
Canelo choosing to face Yildirim and Saunders means that GGG won’t be facing the Mexican star in the first half of next year as he’d hoped to. It’s not likely that Golovkin will get a fight against Alvarez at all in 2021, as the Mexican star is expected to face IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant in September.
If Golovkin wants to stay busy in a fight that will interest boxing fans, he and Andrade can battle in a unification match in early 2021.
