Floyd Mayweather facing Gennadiy Golovkin has hit the headlines again as a super-fight that got away.
Mayweather could have faced Golovkin as a super welterweight in an intriguing clash for the ages. Former Pound for Pound king Golovkin had his focus on landing one big fish before Mexican rival Canelo Alvarez, and that man was Mayweather.
Previously, GGG expressed his desire to World Boxing News about battling Mayweather in a catchweight clash. However, he never managed to land the fight he wanted against the elusive Mayweather, or Manny Pacquaio, for that matter. Golovkin was willing to boil down in weight for either of the legends for many years. He eventually got his trilogy against Canelo from 2017 to 2022, though.
When he was bulldozing every opponent on his way to a middleweight record of title defenses, WBN was in regular contact with Team Golovkin. The four-time WBN Fighter of the Year used the WBN platform in his bid to get a message to Mayweather on many occasions. He could make 154, and Floyd Mayweather was his ultimate target.
Sadly, it never happened.
Mayweather had previously confirmed that completing his lucrative Showtime contract would bring down the curtain on his stellar career in 2015 as Golovkin made headlines. By 2016, Golovkin was at the peak of his powers. He wanted the ‘Money’ man to return for a mammoth paycheck. Amazingly, Mayweather stayed true to his word, having fought Andre Berto in his MGM Grand swansong. Even after the Berto fight came and went and Mayweather walked away, the Kazakh was still willing to boil himself down to 153 or 154lbs.
According to trainer Abel Sanchez, issues remained regarding safely making the weight – but only in his estimation. Golovkin wanted to challenge Mayweather for his pound-for-pound crown. He was confident he could add the American to his impressive list of knockouts.
“It’s a massive fight and one of significance, so yes, ‘GGG’ would go down to 154 for Mayweather. The only thing is, Mayweather has a brilliant way of keeping himself out there, so nobody ever knows whether these rumors are true,” Sanchez told WBN.
At the time, the middleweight king had claimed 20 straight knockouts. So, no wonder Mayweather didn’t take up that option. If Mayweather returned for a half-century of wins [before Conor McGregor], looking down the list of the best around would have meant he looked no further than GGG. Back then, some even placed Mayweather as the underdog in that fight. Something not experienced by the boxing legend for some time. Those who wanted to see Amir Khan get the 50th fight would merely dig up the possibility of another letdown. It proved to be. For his part, Golovkin offered that element of excitement throughout. At any time, it could only take one punch from the 90 percent KO artist to end it all.
Mayweather vs. GGG promised to be a Pay Per View bonanza. But even then – Golovkin had the tools to break other opponents down bit by bit. Given Mayweather’s condition, there would have been significant questions about boosting those PPV numbers.
Mayweather was open to being tagged plenty by a much bigger man at his age. He would have some style tweaking to avoid what’s coming his way. Being the savvy businessman he is, the risks far outweighed the rewards. That’s even with the weight issue. Golovkin is a fully-fledged 160lber. Going down six or seven pounds for the first time in his professional career may have had damaging repercussions. But that could have been another reason Mayweather would fancy the job and take on the momentous task. It would certainly make it more challenging for people to argue with the former Olympic silver medalist.
He calls himself ‘The Best Ever.’ Therefore, dominating that generation’s best middleweight [Canelo was a 154-pounder back then] in Golovkin was a legacy enhancer. Ultimately, doing what he did so emphatically to Manny Pacquiao would be an even better feat.
Fans always want the best to fight best. The smart money was on Mayweather choosing a far lesser name. He went out with a whimper against Berto.
Ultimately, Floyd Mayweather missed the chance to silence even those staunch doubters about his greatness. There would undoubtedly have been no more questions to answer if he could have pulled off the victory in his twilight years against Golovkin.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
