Gennady Golovkin remained undefeated after scoring an eighth-round knockout win against David Lemieux during their middleweight title unification bout on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Golovkin was all over Lemieux during their showdown, and his impressive performance helped him move one step closer to getting all the major middleweight titles belts, as he became the mandatory challenger for the World Boxing Council title, which will be at stake in the upcoming Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez showdown.
Golovkin added the International Boxing Federation belt to his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Organization titles, but the 33-year-old champion said that he will not be contented until he gets all belts in the division, saying that he is ready to face either Cotto or Alvarez in his next fight.
"The winner of Cotto-Canelo for sure will be next," Golovkin said via BoxingScene. "I'm not sure who will win that fight, but I want to fight the winner next. I'm staying at 160 until I have all the belts."
Golovkin, who improved his record to 34-0 with 31 knockout victories, also remained as the mandatory challenger for the WBC middleweight title. K2 Promotions' Tom Loeffler revealed that WBC gave Cotto and Canelo 15 days to express interest in facing Golovkin.
"The WBC has mandated that the winner of Cotto-Canelo has 15 days to ratify if they are going to fight Gennady or not," Loeffler said. "And if they don't, if they don't agree to fight him, then the WBC will take the action under their rule."
Golovkin has been waiting for a chance to fight for the WBC middleweight title, but he decided to step aside to make the highly anticipated showdown between Cotto and Alvarez possible.
Loeffler said that they are unsure of the plans of Cotto and Alvarez. But for him, Alvarez is more willing to face Golovkin, saying that Cotto was hard to deal with during previous negotiations for a possible showdown.
"We always thought Canelo would be the more likely one to fight Gennady," Loeffler added. "But you have to give Miguel respect. Gennady will be at their fight and looking to fight the winner. Canelo has proven that he is willing to get in the ring with anyone, and Cotto has been very selective in his negotiations for being middleweight champion."
Cotto and Alvarez are scheduled to collide for the WBC middleweight title on Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.
