By Radio Rahim
IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) has no intention of agreeing to a catch-weight against the winner of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) vs. Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs), who battle for the WBC middleweight championship on November 21st at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Golovkin became the WBC's mandatory challenger by stopping David Lemieux in the eight round of their unification on Saturday night at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The World Boxing Council has already ordered the Cotto-Canelo winner to make their first defense against Golovkin.
Cotto-Canelo takes place at a catch-weight of 155-pounds. Canelo has never fought above 155. Cotto has never fought at the full middleweight limit. He fought Daniel Geale at 157 and Sergio Martinez at 159. Cotto stated in past interviews that all of his future opponents would be subject to a catch-weight.
Golovkin was willing to come down to 154-pounds for a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the WBC/WBA belts at junior middleweight. But when it comes to a middleweight unification, which the WBC ordered, Golovkin is not planning to skim off any pounds.
Because the fight is a mandatory defense, both Cotto and Canelo will have very little bargaining power to force a catch-weight on Golovkin.
"I'm champion of 160, middleweight is my comfortable weight. For what [reason would I do a catch-weight]? For business or for what? I'm a boxer. I'm the champion of the middleweight division," Golovkin said.