Gennadiy Golovkin To Face Falcao Next?

Off his loss in a trilogy battle with Canelo Alvarez in September, unified middleweight champ and future hall of famer Gennadiy Golovkin made clear that he wants to continue on fighting as a middleweight. And, now, it looks like he has an opponent that will be next.

David Torres of izquierdazo.com reported first that the WBA and the IBF have agreed to have the 40 year old Golovin battle unbeaten Brazilian #1 IBF challenger Esquiva Falcao with the condition that the winner of that unified title bout meet the WBA’s top challenger, Erislandy Lara,

Gennady Golovkin tendrá que hacer defensa mandatoria pero no será ante Erislandy Lara. https://t.co/nPaklDGMhw

— Izquierdazo Boxeo (@IzquierdazoBox) October 17, 2022

From Torres’ report:

“Gennady Golovkin will have a mandatory fight and no permission from the WBA to make any optional defense, confirmed Gilberto Jesús Mendoza, president of the organization. After the fight with Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, the Kazakh boxer will have to defend his WBA and IBF middleweight titles.

The presidents of both organizations agree and Golovkin should face Esquiva Falcao, number one in the IBF. “It’s a joint resolution,” said Gilbertico in an interview with IZQUIERDAZO. “We get accounts and should go with Falcao.”

Golovkin won the IBF title after beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko in October 2019, and the WBA super champion in April against Ryota Murata. “Golovkin will be notified of the double mandate soon,” he added. “First with Falcao and the winner against Erislandy Lara”

As we wrote previously,  the WBA had ordered Golovkin to face Lara, no matter the outcome, after his third fight with Alvarez. Our Dan Rafael reports that the IBF has still not officially filled out everything contractually for Golovkin to battle Falcao, but it’s believed that will happen soon.

Golovkin, 42-2-2, won the WBA 160 lb. title defeating Ryota Murata in his home country of Japan back in April. GGG broke him down particularly to the body and eventually, stopped Murata in the 9th round. That unified the WBA 160 lb. crown with Golovkin’s IBF middleweight title, which he had won off a vacant title fight with Sergey Derevyanchenko.

With the Cuban Lara, 29-3-3, stepping aside, for now, that means the 30-0, 20 KOs Falcao will likely get the biggest bout of his career. Golovkin is a promotional free agent after a multi-fight deal with DAZN and having several bouts promoted by Matchroom Boxing.

Now, we’ll wait to see if he ends up making a deal to fight in the U.S., including Las Vegas where the Brazilian has fought two times in the recent past.