Gennady Golovkin's fifth round stoppage win over Kelly Brook on Sunday morning, AEST, confirmed one thing; the need for a Saul Alvarez vs Golovkin super-fight.
The previously undefeated Brook is set for surgery to repair a broken eye socket suffered at the hands, or fists, of the heavy handed Kazakhstani.
Brook's corner was forced to throw in the towel to spare their man, or should I say warrior, from any further punishment.
The stoppage victory was the 23rd victory in such fashion for Golovkin, who defended the WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight World Titles.
Although Brook stepped up two weight classes to challenge Golovkin, make no mistake about it, Brook is world class, and has enough power and skill at any reasonable weight class to worry anyone on the planet.
That being said, right now Golovkin is on another planet to anyone in a comparable division.
Although Romรกn Gonzรกlez and Sergey Kovalev could mount good arguments, for mine Golovkin is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. He is certainly the most dangerous and devastating.
Anyone who saw what he did to Aussie former World Champion Daniel Geale will know just what the 36-0 fighter is capable of.
Geale, despite his amazing boxing pedigree, was massively outclassed by Golovkin, who now has 33 stoppages in his 36 wins. He, like each of Golovkin's 32 other stoppage victims, was unable to find an answer for the power possessed by GGG.
Despite the presence of some supremely talented fighters in the middleweight division and its near surroundings, there is only one man on the scene capable of testing Golovkin, let alone beating him.
That man is Mexican superstar Saul โCanelo' Alvarez.
Canelo will have his hands busy with Sunday as he is set to fight undefeated Englishman Liam Smith in Texas. Despite Smith's impressive record of 23 wins, and a draw, from 24 fights, with all due respect to the Brit, he is a far different beast from Golovkin.
Should Alvarez, as is overwhelmingly expected, come through the bout unscathed, surely an early 2017 matchup with Golovkin is the only option going forward.
Canelo himself has left many-a challenger lying in his wake, in his 49 fight career, with 33 stoppages. A very early career draw aside, only a majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather dents his otherwise unblemished record.
Despite ridiculous knock outs of James Kirkland and Amir Khan, Canelo's highlight reel of finished does not compare to that of the man most boxing fans insist he HAS to fight next up in Golovkin.
Some critics will, somewhat correctly, will point out that Golovkin's record does not contain the level of opponents, or wins, than that of Canelo. The counterpoint to that is simple, there's hardly a number of boxers lining up to be separated from their consciousness by Golovkin.
Golovkin, despite his incredible record, does not have the profile of the super popular Alvarez, who is arguably the sport's biggest star.
Why would a huge name boxer risk fighting Golovkin, who has the ability to end careers, when a safer fight, against a higher grossing opponent is an option?
This, much like the Mayweather/Pacman saga that dragged on for years, is a fight that has been supposedly in the works on many occasions.
I can't remember the last time Canelo fought, and won, only to not have someone post-match suggest he fight Golovkin next. Following his destruction of Amir Khan, his exact words to Golovkin were โLet's fight nowโ.
I expect the same rhetoric to follow his inevitable win this Sunday morning.
The excuses for this mega-fight to happen are running short. Pay no attention to any supposed weight differences. These are elite level, world class athletes, capable of agreeing on a weight where both can be at their best.
Canelo vacated the WBC middleweight title he held and defended by obliterating Amir Khan to Golovkin, outlining the ability of both men to fight at middleweight.
I'm not suggesting Canelo is avoiding a clash with Golovkin. Business wise his holding off on the fight makes the world of sense. There's also the chance that privately Golovkin's promoters are not playing ball, we simply don't know.
What we do know however, is that a Golovkin/Canelo fight MUST happen.
Both men are in the primes of their careers. This is the biggest fight in combat sports right now.
Despite Conor McGregor's amazing ability to sell fights, boxing is still the biggest combat sport in the world, and this fight is capable of doing huge numbers.
I just hope this fight happens while both men are at the peak of their powers, and not years too late like a certain other mega fight.
Quite frankly, I can't see another opponent for either man possessing anywhere near the challenge of the other.
Canelo vs GGG, it must happen!!!
