Gennady Golovkin Sends Warning To Canelo, Middleweight Division After Vanes Martirosyan Knockout

Gennady Golovkin has plans to clean out the entire middleweight division after defeating Vanes Martirosyan on Saturday night at the Stubhub Center in Carson, California.

After a first round that saw some relative success from his opponent, it was Golovkin (38-0-1) who took over as a barrage of punches knocked Martirosyan down in the second round with the latter unable to get up on time.

"It was like being hit by a train," Martirosyan said after the fight. "It wasn’t one punch. It was all of his punches. It’s the hardest I’ve ever been hit."

It means the undefeated "GGG" not only retains his World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, and International Boxing Organization middleweight titles but also equaled Bernard Hopkins' record of 20 straight middleweight title defenses.

In the process, he also ended a run of two fights going the distance after finishing his previous 36 wins with knockouts.

"It feels great to get a knockout," Golovkin reacted. "Vanes is a very good fighter. He caught me a few times in the first round. In the second round, I came out all business after I felt him out in the first round."

The attention now shifts to who Golovkin will face next. Martirosyan was a short-notice opponent after Golovkin's highly-anticipated rematch with Canelo Alvarez was called off after the latter was suspended for two failed drug tests for clenbuterol in February.

The rematch is now slated for September; however, while the Kazakh is unsure if it will happen, he is ready to face him and any other middleweight fighter.

"I want everyone," Golovkin said regarding who is next before being asked about fighting Canelo. "Absolutely. I have lots of belts. I challenge anyone to come and take my belts. I don’t care who it is. Let’s clean the division out."

Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez notably claimed discussions over the rematch would be planned after the Martirosyan fight.

"I've been in communication with Tom Loeffler [Golovkin's promoter] we're going to have a meeting right after the May 5th fight," Gomez said. "Our intention is to make the fight."

"That's the fight we had made, that's the fight Canelo wants but look, if Golovkin for whatever reason doesn't want to fight him then we'll have a back-up plan. We have two or three other guys that we're looking at, right now. But that's the fight that Canelo wants and that's the fight I'm going to try and get done."

Should the rematch not happen in September, Golovkin, who also mentioned his plan of fighting two more times in 2018, has other options.

One of them is a title unification clash with World Boxing Organization champion Billy Joe Saunders, which is arguably the biggest match-up not involving Canelo.

Meanwhile, he could also fight his middleweight title mandatories in Jermall Charlo or Sergey Derevyanchenko as he hopes to cement his legacy as the greatest fighter at 160 pounds.