According to Mike Coppinger’s sources, former unified middleweight titleholder Gennadiy Golovkin has reached an agreement with Sergiy Derevyanchenko to face off at Madison Square Garden on October 5th, streaming live on DAZN. The two fighters, who have been in negotiations for a little while now, were expected to fight for the now-vacant IBF middleweight title, and that’s exactly what will happen. Coppinger reports there will be a formal announcement of the fight this Thursday.
Sources: Gennadiy Golovkin and Sergiy Derevyanchenko have finalized a deal to fight Oct. 5 for the vacant IBF middleweight title at MSG on DAZN, ending weeks of negotiations. There will be a press conference Thursday in N.Y., and Eddie Hearn will be there on behalf of GGG
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) August 21, 2019
Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs) will now have the opportunity to win back at least one of the middleweight titles he previously held. Canelo Alvarez ended up with the IBF, WBA, and WBC titles last September, but Canelo was subsequently stripped of the IBF after he recently failed to come to terms to face mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko — which in and of itself turned out to be a whole ‘nother controversy.
Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs), meanwhile enters this fight off a decision win over Jack Culcay since he last dropped a chance to grab the IBF title, losing a unanimous decision to Daniel Jacobs last October.
On paper this fight should produce some fireworks so should be fun for the fans, which is always good news. But it’s also a high level matchup deserving of a main event, something we could use more of. Time to get excited.