Golovkin: ‘I no longer think about Canelo’

With Gennady Golovkin set to return on May 5 against Vanes Martirosyan, live on HBO, the middleweight champion is still fielding questions about Canelo Alvarez, even though he doesn’t want to be.

Golovkin says that, for now at least, Canelo is in the past:

“Canelo? Right now he is over. Do I want to have the rematch in September? We’ll see. It’s a different deal. I’ll fight Canelo again. Ask him if he wants to fight me. ... “I no longer think about Canelo. I am only focused on this fight. The boxing business is crazy. I just want to fight Vanes. I remember him from the 2004 Olympics. I know he is not easy. Vanes is a strong and active fighter in the ring. He is a good fighter. Vanes is a real guy. A real fighter. He is tall and strong. In 2004, I thought Vanes was the best boxer on the U.S. Olympic team.”

It’s good that Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KO) isn’t looking past Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21 KO), but at the same time, it’s kind of hard to blame some in the media for doing just that. The reality is that Martirosyan is a good junior middleweight who hasn’t fought in two years, since losing to Erislandy Lara.

Is Martirosyan dangerous? Sure. He’s a capable fighter. But is he a test for a focused Golovkin? That’s debatable, at best. But that debate is for fans and media, not for the fighters. GGG is saying he’s focused and coming in hot. And we know that Martirosyan is going to come in and give the best he’s got. If he winds up looking like a pushover, it’s because Golovkin was that much better, at least in my view.