Gennady Golovkin, the reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight champion, is eyeing big fights against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015.
Abel Sanchez, Golovkin's trainer, said that they will likely face the winner of the expected showdown between Alvarez and Miguel Cotto, but he quickly added that Canelo is a more realistic option.
Sanchez said that if Cotto wins against Alvarez next year, the reigning World Boxing Council middleweight (WBC) champion, won't agree to defend his title against Golovkin.
But if Canelo wins, Sanchez is convinced that the Golovkin-Alvarez showdown will happen next year, and he is confident that his fighter will score a knockout within eight rounds.
"If Canelo wins, very likely. If Cotto wins, never in a million years - because Cotto knows he'd get knocked out," Sanchez told BoxingScene. "Canelo is confident because he's young. He's still brash. He's still young. He still thinks he can conquer the world. But he gets knocked out in less than eight rounds."
Golovkin, who holds a perfect 31-0 record with 28 knockout victories, is coming off a second-round stoppage victory against Marco Antonio Rubio last month. He is set to defend his title again on Feb. 21 against Martin Murray where a win would put him in a good position to get a big-money fight next year.
Aside from Alvarez and Cotto, Golovkin's camp also wants a shot against Mayweather, the reigning WBC World light middleweight champion, who has an unblemished 47-0 record with 26 knockouts.
Sanchez said in a recent interview that Golovkin deserves a fight against Mayweather, saying that his 32-year-old fighter is capable of pulling off an upset against the reigning pound-for-pound king.
"I think that Golovkin has been quoted as saying that his dream match is a match against Floyd Mayweather," Sanchez told On The Ropes Boxing Radio. "I think the viewing public and the people that are paying for these things want to see a competitive match for Floyd and they feel that maybe Golovkin can give him that type of competitive match. I feel that would be one of the bigger fights to happen in a long, long time."
