Gennady Golovkin is planning on winning decisively against obscure contender Steve Rolls on June 8 to ensure that he can get the trilogy fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez that he so badly wants. Canelo (52-1-2, 35 KOs) hasn’t made it clear if he’ll fight GGG in September, though most boxing fans expect him to do that.
Former IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) fights the undefeated Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) on DAZN on June 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York. There should be a large crowd in attendance that night, even though it’s not expected to be a competitive fight. GGG is one of those type of fighters where the boxing public doesn’t care who he faces. They just want to see him in action.
DAZN wants that fight, and the other options for Canelo are less than appealing. WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith is the other name that has been talked about for Canelo, and no one knows who he is in the U.S, apart from hardcore boxing fans.
“It’s very important for me [to win decisively] because everybody wants to watch a third fight with Canelo and everybody wants more of the emotion and reaction we know will be part of that,” GGG said to the latimes.com.
Golovkin can’t go wrong with Rolls
Rolls is an aggressive fighter that likes to mix it up with his opponents. He’s not as fast of hand as Canelo, and he lacks the ring mobility of Daniel Jacobs. Those are the two fighters that Golovkin had problems with. With the two controversial fights with Canelo, which results in GGG losing his three middleweight world titles, he needs a clear victory on June 8. If Golovkin can’t beat a fighter of Rolls’ class in a decisive manner, then it might be time for him to think of hanging up his gloves. DAZN recently signed GGG to a six-fight deal. It’s unclear if they have a back-out clause in their contract with Golovkin if he suddenly starts losing to even average fighters like the 35-year-old Rolls.
GGG with new trainer Johnathon Banks
This will be GGG’s first fight with both DAZN and his new trainer Johnathon Banks. Golovkin let go his old trainer Abel Sanchez, and he’s looking to learn new things with the experienced Banks, who previously trained former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Banks has a lot of ideas he wants to apply to improve Golovkin’s game. He believes he can beat Canelo in the rematch if he follows his instructions. But first, GGG needs to get past Rolls, who will be highly motivated for this fight with him on June 8.
Rolls’ management has never put him in with a world class fighter before. It’s unclear what the hangup was for Rolls’ management to have him fight soft opposition for the first 10 years of his career. It was one of those failure to launch type deals with Rolls. They never put Rolls in with anyone good until now. As the saying goes, ‘better late than never.’ Still, it’s troubling that Rolls was fed poor opposition for his entire 10-year career.
“This is business,” Golovkin said. “I’m approaching it as if I have an appointment in September with Canelo.”
It’s likely that Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions won’t be resistant to the idea of putting him in with Golovkin in September. There’s no one else for Canelo to fight that the U.S boxing fans care about seeing. WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade will be coming off of a fight with Maciej Sulecki, so he won’t be able to take a fight with Canelo in September. WBA Super World super middleweight champion Callum Smith is too much of an unknown in the U.S for him to be a useful opponent for Canelo. DAZN could help GGG get the Canelo fight by them urging Golden Boy to make the fight, in order to increase the subscriptions. The best possible option for Canelo, besides GGG, would be someone like welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. However, he wouldn’t be someone that would come cheap. It would cost a lot of money to get Spence (25-0, 21 KOs) to agree to move up two weight classes to take on Canelo.
