LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Gennady Golovkin will have one eye on history here Saturday as he chases a record-equaling defense of his world middleweight crown in a hastily-arranged showdown with Vanes Martirosyan.
Golovkin can equal Bernard Hopkins’ record of 20 middleweight title defenses if he defeats Martirosyan at Los Angeles’s StubHub Center in a bout put together at short notice following the cancellation of the Kazakh’s rematch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
The 36-year-old Golovkin had been due to battle Alvarez in Las Vegas this weekend, in what was likely to be one of the highlights of the 2018 boxing calendar.
Alvarez’s failed drug test and subsequent suspension by Nevada authorities scuppered that showdown, however, leaving Golovkin with a blank date in his diary that Martirosyan was only too happy to fill.
Martirosyan, who normally fights at light middleweight, will be stepping up a division to face the hard-hitting Golovkin, who is unbeaten through 38 fights, including 33 by knockout.
