Former world champion Chris Byrd is now among those who are very interested in seeing Floyd Mayweather Jr. collide with middleweight superstar Gennady Golovkin.
Byrd said in an interview with On The Ropes Boxing Radio that Mayweather should accept the challenge of facing Golovkin if he decides to come out of retirement.
"I truly think if Floyd comes back, he should take up the challenge to fight him at middleweight," Byrd said.
Byrd thinks that Mayweather, who has a perfect 49-0 record with 26 knockout victories in his career, has the perfect style to counter Golovkin, who is known for his vaunted punching power.
"I think it would be an interesting matchup, and when I look at both styles, it would be a much easier fight than him fighting a pure boxing guy that moves and is rangy and could give him problems," Byrd continued. "Golovkin is more flat footed, and of course there's the punching power aspect of it."
Mayweather, who retired after his unanimous decision win against Andre Berto in September, has not fought above 154 pounds in his career. His recent fights were for welterweight world titles aside from his junior middleweight clash with Canelo Alvarez in September 2013.
While Byrd is convinced that Mayweather's defense and fighting style could negate Golovkin's advantage in weight, the former two-time heavyweight world champion also admitted that it will not be a walk in the park for the former pound-for-pound king because he is not used to fighting a natural middleweight.
"Floyd's style can neutralize guys and make it look easy," Byrd said. "But in moving up in weight, I think it would be a little more difficult because he's not a natural middleweight and Golovkin is very much a natural middleweight and he's a good fighter."
Golovkin, who is the reigning World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and International Boxing Organization middleweight world champion, has expressed interest in facing Mayweather before. The 33-year-old Kazakh, who has a perfect 34-0 record with 31 knockouts, is even willing to face Mayweather at 154 pounds.
