By Edward Chaykovsky
Frank Warren, who promotes WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12KOs), says a unification with WBC/IBF/IBO/WBA champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32KOs) is very possible to take place this year - if Saunders is properly paid for the contest.
The fight was discussed earlier this year, but Saunders was unhappy with the financial terms of the fight. Saunders has been inactive since winning the WBO title from champion Andy Lee last December.
Saunders was scheduled to return earlier this year, but suffered an injury which caused him push back his return.
Saunders has been calling for the fight, and he holds a big bargaining chip - the only title not held by Golovkin. The main goal for Golovkin, at the moment, is to unify the middleweight division. Once he completes that task, he will seriously consider the possibility of invading 168-pounds.
Warren wants to make the fight happen, but only if the money is right for Saunders.
"Billy Joe Saunders against Golovkin, that’s a tough fight for Billy Joe Saunders. He hasn’t defended his title yet. He says he wants it, and I know he wants it. That’s all about money. If the money is not right, then I can’t let it happen. It’s got to be right, because he’s seriously, seriously going into the lion’s den," Warren told IFL TV.
"He’s fighting the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He’s going in there with him - a monster. He's going in there with him. The bottom line is - that fight is a tough fight. I'm not saying if you get beat it's the end of the world, because it wouldn't be - but that's a tough fight. And if you’re going in with a guy [like Golovkin], then you have got to be paid for it. Billy Joe Saunders would go in there as a very big underdog. It's a tough fight and he needs to get paid for it."