Gennady “GGG” Golovkin confirmed he will fight May 5 despite Canelo Alvarez pulling out of their scheduled rematch in the wake of a suspension for doping violations, and now we know who that opponent will be: Vanes Martirosyan.
GGG’s replacement opponent is Vanes Martirosyan after Canelo rematch cancelled
We know who Gennady Golovkin will fight next after the rematch with Canelo Alvarez was scrapped.
Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images
Martirosyan is 36-3-1 with 21 knockouts to his name. He hasn’t fought since a decision loss to Erislandy Lara two years ago. He has been competitive against some big names in the past, but this is obviously a much lesser matchup for Golovkin than the bout with Alvarez. This is evidences by the bout shifting to to the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., a smaller venue.
Prior to the new fight becoming official, it was heavily rumored that Spike O’Sullivan would be the replacement. Other big names considered and tossed around by media included Billy Joe Saunders, who holds the WBO belt, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Demetrius Andrade.
Jaime Munguia was in talks to be the late substitution, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission refused to allow that fight to happen. He typically fights a division below Golovkin’s, and hasn’t faced anybody nearly on Golovkin’s level.
Andrade has been public about wanting the fight, while Derevyanchenko was trying to make the case that he should get the contest as the mandatory IBF challenger. While IBF threatened to strip Golovkin if he didn’t fight Derevyanchenko, they have backed off of that.
Alvarez received a temporary suspension on Feb. 17 for testing positive for clenbuterol, a weight loss accelerant and stamina elevator that is a banned substance by most sanctioned sports. He had a hearing set for April 18 with the NSAC, but he opted to pull out of the rematch with Golovkin ahead of that. He received a six-month suspension at his hearing.
There wasn’t much optimism that Alvarez, despite maintaining his innocence, would receive a favorable ruling from the commission. Alvarez claims the positive test is due to contaminated meat which does at least have some history of being a real thing that’s happened to athletes in the past.
If he accepts punishment and cooperates with the NSAC, then it’s possible he can get back in the ring sooner rather than later and get a rematch with Golovkin rescheduled. A rematch is what everyone wants as they fought to a split draw in their first contest in September 2017.
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