40-year-old boxing legend Kazakh middleweight Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) refused the IBF belt,
informs columnist Wilson Baldini. The veteran retained his WBA Super title.
Golovkin was supposed to hold a mandatory IBF defense against Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (30-0, 20 KOs). Apparently, the legendary champion did not wait for a worthy offer, after which he decided to go the other way.
The IBF will offer to play for the vacated Falcao belt and No. 2 in the rating to Australian Michael Zerafa (31-4, 19 KOs), who previously claimed that he almost agreed with Golovkin on a face-to-face fight.
If the Australian really agreed with the legend, then the organization will offer a fight with Falcao to the next available opponent. Interestingly, in the top 15 from IBF, Zerafa is immediately followed by 3 representatives of Germany: Vincenzo Gualtieri, Denis Radovan and Vincent Feigenbutz. But you still need to take into account that an updated rating will appear one of these days – some changes in the top are not excluded (but unlikely).
Meanwhile, Mexican Jaime Munguia, an ex-champion in the lower division, is dreaming of a fight with Golovkin. Ex-coach of Kazakhstani in shock: “Stay away from him!” And promoter Oscar De La Hoya is sure this is a fight for 2023!