Some fights in boxing are just not possible, regardless of how much you might want them to happen. Such is the case in today’s story, where rumors suggested His Excellency Turki Alalshikh was exploring a mega fight between former undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford and former super middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
‘GGG’, 42, never officially announced his retirement from the sport. But after suffering his second career defeat at the hands of Canelo Alvarez in 2022, he never returned to the sport. He would further become the head of Kazakhstan’s Olympic committee, partly ending speculations about his return. Regardless, the Saudi royal hopped on X recently to debunk these rumors.
An impossible dream of Gennady Golovkin
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After the rumors about Alalshikh wanting to arrange their fight in 2025 started spreading on social media, Fight Hub TV picked up the story, and asked their followers, “What do you think fight fans?” This seems to have caught the Saudi advisor’s eye, who quickly docked at the comment section to write, “not truth”, revealing the whole thing was a hoax, and he has no intentions of making such a bout.
🚨 Rumors at the moment that Turki Alalshikh has offered GGG to fight Terence Crawford in 2025!
What do you think fight fans?🤔 #Boxing pic.twitter.com/eSytrVRgAS
— Fight Hub TV (@FightHubTV) August 20, 2024
However, previously, Alalshikh had expressed interest in arranging a fight between Terence Crawford and Canelo Álvarez, but that rapidly fell apart after the duo started feuding on social media. Alalshikh revealed on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he was no longer interested in making the fight, which received a response from Canelo, who claimed he didn’t care whether the fight gets made.
not truth!
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) August 21, 2024
What’s your perspective on:
Is Gennady Golovkin's legacy untouchable, or should he consider a fight with Terence Crawford?
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This prompted the Saudi Royal to claim Canelo was demanding absurd amounts of money for the fight to avoid fighting Crawford entirely. Regardless, even after HE revealed the truth about the Crawford vs. GGG fight rumors, fans couldn’t help but share their thoughts about the hypothetical fight.
Fans see Terence Crawford fall
Even in what seems like retirement, Golovkin boasts a loyal fan base online who quickly took his side. One user felt ‘GGG’ must still have his power despite his age. The user wrote, “At 160 ggg might be slow but im sure he still powerful..but has people seen ggg lately the [man] looks retired and like he hasn’t spar, ran 6 miles in 2 years.” Interestingly, even though he doesn’t look like he will return to boxing, he has hinted at a potential return in several interviews.
The next user shared their prediction for the bout. “Crawford will not step in the ring for this fight! GGG will stop Crawford within 7-rounds by stoppage,” wrote the user. Notably, in Crawford’s last 12 bouts, he has gone the distance only once, meaning he is no pushover.
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Akin to the previous user, this guy has similar thoughts. “Prime ggg vs bud. Ggg wins with ease,” wrote the user. In his prime, Golovkin actually had one of the most scary knockout ratios, with 42 wins and 37 knockouts. On top of that, Crawford’s climb to higher weight classes wouldn’t have helped him either.
The next user seemed dumbfounded by the matchup. “Smh. Terrance may need to retire. He has no one else to fight. They just pulling s**t out a hat at this point,” the user remarked. However, that’s not exactly true. Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis has been itching to fight Crawford, but ‘Bud’ has refused to participate.
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Meanwhile, this user seemed to like the prospect of the hypothetical matchup. “Old GGG vs Crawford would be amazing,” the user wrote. Both were elite fighters with a wealth of skills – indeed, it would have been a great matchup.
Having said that, the rumors turned out to be nothing more than a hoax, which it seemed like from the beginning. Despite that, a lot of people seem to favor Gennady Golovkin in the hypothetical fight. Do you agree?
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Debate
Is Gennady Golovkin's legacy untouchable, or should he consider a fight with Terence Crawford?