Despite harboring hopes that Gennady Golovkin might have one more fight before riding off into the sunset, his promoter Tom Loeffler now believes that we have probably seen the last of the Kazakh middleweight in the ring.
“I was always hoping for one more fight, whether it was a farewell fight in Kazakhstan, or one of these matchups you see in the Middle East, that type of thing,” Loeffler told BoxingScene. But with the February announcement by the Kazakh National Olympic Committee that Golovkin would be its new president, Loeffler acknowledges that the likelihood of such an event is now remote.
“That's a very high position in Kazakhstan – he's not only the head of Olympic boxing in the country, he’s the head of every sport of the national Olympic team in Kazakhstan. So, that’s a full-time job for him.”
If indeed it is the end of the road, as seems likely, for the 42-year-old Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs), Loeffler says he can look back fondly on the run they enjoyed together, particularly after Golovkin first appeared on HBO in 2012.
“He was so dominant,” he said. “There were no chinks in his armor, whether it was him being able to take a punch, whether it was him being able to deliver a punch. When I first met Triple G, [trainer] Abel [Sanchez] said he had never felt anyone punch as hard on the pads, and Abel’s had a long list of world champions. And that came to fruition with his one-punch knockout power, whether that was with a body shot against Matthew Macklin or at Madison Square Garden against Daniel Geale.
The knockout of Geale, who succumbed in the third round in July 2014, is one that especially lingers in Loeffler’s memory.
“It was the first time I saw that: being hit flush on the face on the chin, and then a split-second later demolishing Geale with one punch.”
The only challenge during Golovkin’s run at the top, asserts Loeffler, was finding enough quality opponents willing to take him on.
“I’ve worked with a number of world champions and I've never had such a hard time getting somebody to challenge a champion. He had multiple world titles. You have an opportunity to fight for the championship. And promoters would actually turn it down,” he said.
“There were so many times that the challengers were making the same amount of money as the champion, which was unheard of at the time. But we had to overpay them, just to get them in the ring with Gennady. But it was such a fun ride. The Mexican fans took to his style, he really became one of those universally loved champions where they appreciated his style in the ring. They appreciated his humbleness and his character outside the ring. It was great. It was a great ride with Triple G.”
Golovkin hasn’t fought since dropping a decision to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2022 in their third fight, and Loeffler says that when the Kazakh vacated his IBF and WBA middleweight belts rather than make mandatory defenses against Esquiva Falcao and Erislandy Lara, respectively, he figured the ride was probably over.
“There was no point,” Loeffler said. “He had accomplished so much in his career. He had so many title defenses around the world: selling out the O2 Arena in London [against Kell Brook in 2016], fighting Ryoto Murata and selling out the Saitama Arena [in 2022], that special night against Martin Murray in Monaco [in 2015] when we had Prince Albert and Princess Charlene ringside. There are just so many great memories with Triple G, and it just seems like he feels he’s accomplished everything he wanted to in boxing.”
If Golovkin has indeed made a decision not to return to the ring, Loeffler doubts he’ll issue any kind of formal announcement.
“It seems like he’s just going to get on with his life,” he said. “It’s a big position that he’s been appointed to in Kazakhstan. So, I believe he’ll just get on with his career. Staying involved with sport, but not actively in the ring.”
