Golovkin has vacated his WBA belt

In that case Golovkin vs Murat would have never been an “unification” fight since Murata was elevated right before their fight.. typical WBA practice and that’s why Tank is holding on to those regulars himself..

 

When did he duck Lara?

 

If you guys want to use the word "duck" that's fine. However, if he is ducking him it's certainly not because he's worried about losing to Lara. At this point in his career Lara is a 39 year old fighter whose best win since 2017 is .... well, you tell me. He has wins over Gary O'Sullivan, Tommy "Cornflake" LaManna, Greg Vendetti or Ramon Alvarez. Lara is no longer anything special. If Golovkin is ducking Lara it's because at this point in GGG's career there is no reason to fight him. By the time they fought Golovkin would be 41 years old and, as he should at this point, he is looking for fights that produce big money or build his legacy, preferably both. Lara can't give him either of those things.

 

And now Lara is the "super duper ultra we swear he is the real WBA champion" champion.
Michael Zerafa is the nr 1 contender but he is fighting Falcao for the vacant IBF belt.
Which leaves Sergio Martinez at nr 2.

 

Lara can give him something for sure that is another loss so he ducks him simple as that.

 

When Lara was at 154 barking but having never fought at 160 to put himself in a position to get a fight.

 

I agree to an extent but this is where the hypocrisy kicks in. The “boxing journalist” still to this day say Sergio Martinez ducked GGG in the same exact scenario. At a certain age fighters start making business decisions which they are entitled to.

 

Agree 100% but the optics don't favor GGG here.

 

Well said. What an excellent way of describing it. At a certain point in their careers they are making business decisions more than they are making sporting decisions.

 

Olu, you and I have had very few communications but I have read enough of your posts to know you are a smart guy with good boxing knowledge. Because of that I have to believe you know that boxers at the level of Golovkin, and Lara for that matter, have so much confidence that they don't believe they are going to lose to an opponent. If you want to say that Golovkin is choosing not to fight him because the risk isn't worth the reward I can go with that but I don't believe for a second he is choosing not to fight Lara because he thinks he's going to lose.

 

Yeah I think he's about to retire.

I get the feeling he's not into it anymore. At 41 that's understandable.

I mean if he wanted an easy out he could legit have defended the IBF belt against Falcao, who, while decent, is not going to trouble even a 41 year old GGG. Lara would have also been much harder for GGG a few years ago when he was (imo) more mobile. I don't see this version of Lara giving too many hassles either. Retirement announcement in 3...2...1...

 

What's his plan then?

 

Time to Put The Cue In The Rack and retire...In His Prime the Most feared Middleweight We have seen for some time.!!!

 

I mean, even a 39 year old Lara would still be a top 3 win for Golovkin, what the hell is he going to do now?