Golovkin considering ring return with newly proposed Saudi-backed boxing league

Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, right, says he is open to a return to boxing if the right offer comes along. Getty

Former middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin said he would open to offers to return to the ring from a newly proposed Saudi-backed boxing league.

Once recognised as the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet, Golovkin (42 wins, 37 by KO, two losses and a draw) has never officially retired and despite having not fought since a loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2022, said he remains in peak form and is ready to fight again.

"Would I be interested in an interesting offer, yeah we have a lot of interest here," Golovkin told Reuters through an interpreter. "I would say, never say never.

"We shall see. I am very comfortable in my position I feel great, I am at the peak of my form and I would say if something comes up we will look into that."

Reuters reported in June that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is in discussions with multiple boxing stakeholders like Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions to create a league, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape of the sport.

The PIF, chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has interests in several sports including football, golf and Formula One.

If the league were to get off the ground, Golovkin would be a prize signing, and could potentially set up a fourth fight against long-time rival Alvarez.

The 42-year-old Kazakhstani's trilogy of fights with the Mexican grew into one of boxing's storied rivalries.

Their first fight, in 2017, ended in a controversial draw, with many observers believing Golovkin won, while Alvarez took the next two fights on the judges' scorecards.

Mexican boxer Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Kazakhstani boxer Gennady Golovkin, alongside boxing promotor Eddie Hearn, pose for photos during a press conference ahead of their fight for the undisputed super-middleweight championship, in Hollywood, California on June 24, 2022. AFP

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez poses for photos during a press conference. AFP

Avarez and Golovkin will meet in the ring for a third time on September 17, 2022 in Las Vegas. AFP

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin face-off. AFP

Saul Alvarez, left, holds his super-middleweight belts as he poses for photographs alongside his next opponent Gennady Golovkin. AFP

Boxer Gennady Golovkin poses on the red carpet. AFP

Boxer Canelo Alvarez poses on the red carpet. AFP

Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and trainer Eddy Reynoso. AFP

Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin face-off as promoter Eddie Hearn looks on. AFP

Gennady Golovkin speaks on the red carpet. AFP

While Golovkin ponders a boxing comeback, he also hopes to use his power of persuasion and not his feared fists to convince Kazakhstan's boxing federation that World Boxing is the best hope to keep the sport on the Olympic programme.

Recently appointed president of Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee, the political ring may be an unfamiliar one for Golovkin but with boxing's future as an Olympic sport on the ropes, he is viewing the fight as one of the most important of his career.

Golovkin said he would push the country's boxing federation to join the US-backed World Boxing which launched in April last year as an alternative to the International Boxing Association led by Russian Umar Kremlev.

Having failed to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues the IBA was last June stripped of its recognition by the International Olympic Committee.

The boxing tournaments at the Paris Olympics this summer are being organised by the IOC but it has said it will not be doing so at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

It has urged national federations to decide on a successor to the IBA by next year at the latest or risk seeing boxing miss out on the LA 2028 Olympics.

"We on our part are trying to convince them [Kazakhstan boxing federation] to join the World Boxing and we try to insist on that," Golovkin said. "We are trying to do that and we will try to continue to push them to that decision.

"It's the federation of boxing of Kazakhstan that makes this decision and it is their freedom of choice. Their decision.

"I do not have any weight from a legal standpoint, I cannot influence the decision of the federation and they are going through their own process."

Given recent rulings by the IOC and Court of Arbitration for Sport for Golovkin there is only one path forward.

After a failed appeal to CAS to overturn the IOC's decision to no longer recognise them the IBA this week made a last ditch appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal to investigate whether the sport court's ruling was unlawful.

"With the court hearings continuing it only hampers the athletes," said Golovkin, a silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympics. "We stand with the athletes because we want boxing to stay in the Olympic programme.

"At the same the same time the IOC has already took a decision and published the requirements and direction and from the IOC point of view it is clear, what steps need to be done in order to preserve boxing in the Olympic programme."