A couple of days ago, it was brought out in the open that the camp of Gennady Golovkin was interested in making a fight with Billy Joe Saunders happen.
Golovkin’s manager, Oleg Hermann, however, feels that Saunders and company are not taking their offer seriously. He points out the inconsistencies as far as the responses he is getting from the camp of Saunders.
Apparently, this has something to with Saunders initially saying that he would need 18 months for him to be ready against Golovkin. Not long after, Saunders comes out to say that he is ready at any moment to face Triple G.
The final word from Saunders is that the British boxer is now leaving the final decision in the hands of his handlers which in all accounts for the inconsistencies Hermann is worried about.
Recently, however, a bit of clarity may have come out. As it turns out, Saunders seems to be indeed holding out because of revenue-related issues.
Saunders made it clear via Boxing Scene that he has no qualms about having a unification bout with Golovkin as long as it satisfies two conditions: one is, of course, the money angle and the second is that the fight takes place in England.
In the same report, the initial offer sent to Saunders and Frank Warren was somewhere in the vicinity of $2 million but it seems the WBO middleweight champion feels he can earn more if he fought opponents he has already faced.
With that said, the ball is now in the court of Golovkin and camp. The way the interview went, it seems Saunders has upped the stakes for Golovkin if he really wants to unify all the middleweight belts.
"They've got to pay me more money than I would get for the Chris Eubank Jr. rematch. Now I'm world champion I've got options and I could make my money elsewhere. Most definitely the fight with Golovkin will happen at some point, most definitely. He wants to fight me because he wants to unify all the belts," added Saunders.
Saunders admits that he is also a big underdog against Golovkin and such could perhaps be the reason he is playing hard to get - an insurance of sorts.
With that on the table, it will be interesting if this matchup can materialize on the planned date which is April 23. As things stand now, there are a lot of loose ends that need to be addressed and hopefully negotiations don’t hit a snag in what promises to be a pretty interesting fight.