DON'T BLAME GGG FOR CHOICE OF OPPONENT

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Don't blame GGG for lining up the relatively unknown and massively over-matched Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21KOs) as the fill-in opponent for his May 5th date. The blame for that being the fight we get in a couple of weeks lies with Canelo Alvarez and his two failed drug tests. Don't get me wrong, nobody is clamoring for a matchup between the unified Middleweight Champ and a guy who's a light middleweight (and has never fought at middleweight before) and hasn't fought in two years. There are plenty of other quality opponents out there for Golovkin.

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The problem is, picking any of them as a fill-in partner with less than a month (and now three weeks) until fight night is just not in GGG's best interest. There is no upside in it for Golovkin. He was destined for an 8-figure payday in the fight with Alvarez and now will once again have to wait to get his rematch shot with Canelo. None of the legitimate "contenders" that could play fill-in will bring that kind of payday - especially on such short-notice, but all bring some level of risk to GGG. Why then should Golovkin take a risk and on short-notice and possibly put in jeopardy the biggest fight of his career?

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Golovkin (37-0-1, 33KOs) is now 36 and is no longer a spring chicken by any means. He still looks elite and his skill-set is still there, but there is one opponent that's undefeated in boxing and in all of sports, and that's father time. At his age, and hoping to get that rematch for the fall now instead of May 5, GGG doesn't need to be wasting training camps - that will do his body no help whatsoever. So he kept May 5 alive and after a couple of possible opponents didn't work out, the apparent push-over Martirosyan was tapped. My argument is simple - why not? Golovkin has never ducked anybody and has had trouble getting elite fighers to dance with him throughout much of his career. If Floyd Mayweather can select Andre Berto as his last fight (sorry to Conor McGregor (0-1) but he is not a boxer, he's an MMA fighter) before his "retirement" and promote that fight for six months, why shouldn't GGG take the safe road?

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No one was in a hurry to fight him, and he earned his Middleweight belts the hard way. I understand that the IBF has strict rules and they do an excellent job of adhearing to those rules but why worry about IBF mandatory Serhiy Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10KOs) already? Yes he's next in line for a title shot, yes he is unbeaten and a former bronze medal winner at the World Amateur Championships, but with just 12 professional fights, there is plenty of time for him to get his title shot. He was a terrific amateur just like Golovkin (one of the greatest Amateur fighters of all-time), albeit not quite up to GGG's stature, but none-the-less very good. He destroyed former World Titlist Sam Soliman with a 2nd Rd TKO in 2016. He knocked off Tureano Johnson in an eliminator bout via 12th Rd TKO in another impressive performance to become Golovkin's IBF mandatory challenger.

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With that kind of resume in a small sample size - why should Golovkin grant a fight with him on short notice? Clearly Derevyanchenko has talent and he'll be very hungry to get his first crack at a title, so why not make that fight down the road and give it time to have the publicity and proper promotion that it deserves (and Tom Loefler, GGG's promoter said as much). Everyone needs to back off a bit, yes Vanes is a massive step down in competition, but we've seen this repeatedly over the years by higher-profile fighters as they position themselves for a big fight. Give Golovkin a break, let him stay in shape and not waste a training camp, so he can go into the Canelo rematch (whenever that finally happens) at his best.

After the rematch with Canelo, if for some reason GGG starts ducking fighters and taking on cupcakes instead of mandatories, then fine let him be ridiculed and rightfully so. But let's not chastise him now for making a smart business move. It's not his fault that the biggest fight of his career was called off because his opponent failed a pair of drug tests. Let him get his clear-cut victory over Canelo and the massive pay-day he deserves and then bring on the Derevyanchenkos, Demetrius Andrades, and Charlos (Jermall Charlo just became another of GGG's mandatories). In the mean-time, let him do what virtually every other big-name draw has done in this sport and get his tune-up victory while he stays prepared for the fight we all want to see - the elusive Canelo rematch.