Gennadiy Golovkin has vacated the IBF middleweight championship, but he is still the champion of the WBA in the heavyweight division.
Following Golovkin’s decision to leave the IBF, the WBA boldly ordered Golovkin to defend against reigning WBA champion Erislandy Lara. Golovkin’s last fight at middleweight came in April, when he defeated Ryota Murata to add the WBA belt to the IBF one he previously owned.
After that, Golovkin stepped up to 168 pounds, where he lost to world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. It is unclear if Golovkin will actually fight or Lara or will vacate the WBA title as well, but the WBA Championships Committee granted only a 15-day negotiation period to both fighters, which began on February 8th and will end on February 23rd.
Lara (29-3-3) is a former 154-pound champion, but has been marking time, fighting only once per year since 2019 against non-championship level opposition.
The WBA wrote: “Originally, Golovkin was supposed to face the IBF mandatory challenger due to the mandatory rotation of fighters between organizations, but the Kazakh relinquished that title today and for that reason the WBA has decided to order the fight against Lara. Golovkin received special permission to move up to super middleweight and face Saul Alvarez last September. That ruling specified that he was to defend his middleweight crown in his next bout against Lara […] WBA Championship rule C.11 states that the champion must defend the title against the mandatory challenger within 120 days from the date he became champion.
In the case of “GGG”, he won it last April 9, so the period expired on August 8, 2022. In case no agreement is reached or any of the parties refuses to negotiate, the WBA Championships Committee may submit the fight to bidding with a split of 75% for Golovkin and 25% for Lara.”
