Calls for Gennady Golovkin’s Retirement Grow Louder As WBA Orders Next Fight

The boxing world has never witnessed a versatile middleweight champion like Gennady Golovkin. Exciting to watch, the walking legend picked the world title first time in 2010 and never took a backstep in his entire carrier. By making title defenses for a record 20 times, ‘GGG’ marked his name in the list of modern boxing greats. In his heydays, he terrorized the 160lbs division with his cold knockout power. Unlike many boxers, he never ducked any opponent. Before losing his title to the Mexican icon Canelo Alvarez, he was ranked as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

But at the end of the day, time steals everything back. Aging Golovkin saw his reflexes diminish, which in turn affected his overall performance. But heads to GGG’s spirit, he never backed down and kept on moving. After suffering his maiden loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2018, the Veteran began his title quest again. A year later in 2019, he regained his IBF and IBO titles by defeating Sergiy Derevyanchenko. In 2022, he unified three belts by clinching the WBA title from Ryota Murata in December 2022.

Since this fight, the 40-year-old has not fought any battle in the middleweight division. Though he moved up in weight class for the first time to challenge his arch-rival Alvarez’s undisputed super-middleweight title, he could not make any difference and lost by decision. As tweeted by Michael Benson, now the WBA has officially directed him to defend his WBA title against former champ Erislandy Lara.

Now eyes are on GGG’s next move. When fans came across this, they suggested he should retire. A fan wrote, “I’d be shocked if this fight happens.”  It would be shocking.

Both fighters are past their fighting phase. Notably, Golovkin is turning 41 in April and Lara is turning 40 in the same month. Meanwhile, ‘GGG’ has also vacated his IBF title.

Why did Gennady Golovkin vacate his IBF title?

The Kazakhstani legend knows well about his present condition. The last fight he fought against Alvarez showed clearly how age has begun to affect his performance in the ring. He was exhausted and became an easy target in the center of the ring. Therefore when the name of the IBF mandatory challenger popped up, he vacated his title with pride.

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As of now, ‘GGG’ doesn’t seem to vacate his WBA title and is not retiring either. It is safe to say that he is trying to have one last appealing fight before retirement that could give him a big fight purse. What are your thoughts on GGG vs Lara? Let us know in the comments below.

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