The boxing media gathered on Monday afternoon at The Conga Room at LA Live to formally announce that Gennady ‘GGG” Golovkin will fight the rest of his career on DAZN, the world’s largest sports streaming platform. DAZN Executive Chairman John Skipper and former unified middleweight champion discussed the six-fight global partnership between GGG promotions and DAZN that will see Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin fight twice a year on the platform for the next three years. DAZN broadcaster Chris Mannix moderated the conversation.
Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin
On signing with DAZN: “I was a free agent and I thought DAZN gave me the best platform. I also think DAZN will be the best home for all boxers in the future.”
On why it took so long to make decision: “It’s no secret I had others offers from other companies. Right now I have the best partner that will let me know promote fighters on GGG Promotions and me as a fighter.”
On agreeing to six fights: “I hope I can do six fights. I feel great! After six fights I’ll see what I can do, but have to focus on these six fights.”
On what you want to gain in the rest of you career: “I’ve gained a lot of experience in the last years of my career. I want to share that with fighters who will be working with me on GGG promotions and I think with DAZN we have the right partner to put on the best fights.”
On unifying the division: “People understand a lot of politics about all the belts. The idea is not to have all belts possible, but it’s to be best boxer and sometimes people with belts are not the best boxers.”
Importance of third fight with Canelo: “Of course it was important for me. Right we want to have the most important fights in boxing, many important fights. That’s what I want to do right now.”
On physical condition: “I can’t really answer that. In my normal life I feel great. I’ll go to training camp in April and I’ll be able to answer this question better.”
DAZN Group Executive Chairman John Skipper
On signing GGG: “We have a clear agenda at DAZN to bring fans the best fights for affordable subscription price. We’re are not going to be able to bring fans the fights without Gennady Golovkin. He was a key element of what we’re going to be which is to be the premiere destination for fight fans. There was very little question in my mind that this is a signing we needed to make. Happy to hear Gennady expects six times and happy to hear that more than six times if he’s still fighting at a high level. We’re thrilled, this is a great deal for us, and we’re very excited.
Chris asked me before why this took so long - I had a chance to meet his wife and had a chance to see his new son. This took a long because this is a lifetime decision. This is a moment in boxing where I think things are changing and what I think we will be able to do is bring the best fights back to fans and Gennady wanted to be part of that. It was complicated and it’s decision he’s making on his life.”
On Canelo/GGG third fight: “Our intentions is to bring fans the best fights and the fights they most want to see. A third fight between Gennady and Canelo is what fans want to see. We’re focused right now on May 4 with Canelo and Daniel Jacobs. Jacobs happens to be a DAZN fighter and we’re focused on the fight Gennady will have in June, which we also expect to be a difficult fight. He’s only interested in fighting appropriate opponents. So we’re going to focus on those fights and see what happens.”
On DAZN having a shelf life: “It’s wrong, we’re committed to this, we’re well capitalized. We’re going to see the results, and we already saw the result from the December fight, which we only had a couple weeks to promote. It did very well for us and if we can follow that up with the fights we’re going to have in May and June and later this fall. We have a very viable financial proposition, so they’re wrong.”
On how you feel 1-10 on number of subscriptions (1 miserable, 10 ecstatic): “I will be at a ten, but I don’t know when exactly, but I will be at a ten. We have had good success and one landmark event and that’s the Canelo fight. I expect to have four to five landmark events this year and to move to from my current three or four, which means I’m satisfied with where I need to be towards knowing what we need to accomplish in the long run and that’s when I’ll be at a ten.”
On Deontay Wilder rumors: “I will not characterize them all, or even confirm them. We have discussions with people and until we announce I rarely comment on them until we announce, so I don’t have anything to announce so no comment. Other than we’re interested in having the best fights on DAZN and we will put the fights on that people want to see. It’s pretty clear that one fight people want to see is Joshua and Wilder.”
Head Trainer Abel Sanchez
On how GGG has grown: “Youthful and exuberant back then, now more experienced, more stealth. He’s thinking more about the things he does. Great thing about him and he always has been is he’s very professional. He’s probably 10-12 pounds over his weight now, so when he comes into camp he’s not abusing his body, and we can focus on working on other things.”
Any erosion with GGG in the ring: “I can only gauge in the fight. There’s not anyone that has dominated him or in the gym. He’s fighting at his top level. I imagine there’s but until someone proves it to me in the ring I have to say no.”
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