He was a mandatory and Golovking was the champion. And if you really want to look at it he had just beaten Sam Soliman who himself was coming off a victory over Sturm and a loss on points to Taylor. Amazing how people like yourself with sneaky agendas always revert back to Dominic Wade.
Charlo or Brant are the most obvious options. Brant actually has a better 160 CV than Charlo, so although I'd prefer the Charlo fight I think the Brant one is now an absolutely fine one to take. If he wants a tune up - that's OK - so long as it's billed as such. But there isn't any real reason why he should need one, in my eyes he is coming off of back to back career best wins so should be mixing around the top still. I must admit I don't quite understand the idea that everyone is avoiding Charlo. Maybe I've missed some behind the scenes stuff but I'm unsure who has turned a fight down with him or who has publicly said they won't find him. Jacobs seemed willing but that didn't happen. But he's now fighting a very very capable Sergei D, whereas if I recall Charlo said he'd be fighting 'someone' in Dec. GGG is out until next year so it ain't him.