Gennady Golovkin Could Lose IBF Title If He Fights Vanes Martirosyan

Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1) risks losing one of his four middleweight titles if he proceeds to fight Vanes Martirosyan on May 5.

Golovkin was to defend his World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing Federation (IBF), and International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight titles against Canelo Alvarez on that date in a highly-anticipated rematch in Las Vegas.

However, the fight was called off after Canelo withdrew earlier this month following a formal complaint filed against him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) after two failed drug tests for clenbuterol in February.

Golovkin though, still plans on defending his belts as a number of replacement opponents have been considered from the likes of Gary O'Sullivan and Sergiy Derevyanchenko, though none of the available options are particularly big names in boxing, resulting in the fight now taking place at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, notably not on pay-per-view anymore.

The latest planned opponent for the unbeaten Kazakh seems to be Martirosyan (36-3-1). Though the fight is not official, Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler and Martirosyan's promoter Don King are reportedly close to finalizing a deal while the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), WBA and WBC have all sanctioned the fight.

The IBF however, will not approve the fight and will likely strip "GGG" of his title if he proceeds further.

According to ESPN, IBF attorney Linda P. Torres sent a letter highlighting the reasons for their refusal to the attornies of Golovkin and Lou DiBella, who promotes Golovkin's IBF mandatory opponent Derevyanchenko.

The main reason is Martirosyan's credentials — he is a junior middleweight who would be moving up in weight, his last fight was a defeat and he has not fought since that defeat back in May 2016.

The IBF will also invoke their rule 5.H, which allows them to declare a title vacant if a champion participates in an unsanctioned contest as a new champion will then be established. Ideally, they would prefer for him to face Dervyanchenko (12-0) in a mandatory title defense with DiBella pushing for the fight to take place.

"What is wrong with switching to another conventional, right-handed fighter who comes forward? How can he [Golovkin] not be prepared for Sergiy Derevyanchenko?" DiBella said last week. "And our guy is in the gym and ready to fight. So I don't understand any argument against him."

"When a guy is sitting in a mandatory spot, he's not getting paid until he gets that [title] fight. And if Golovkin faces Canelo next, this decision could affect [Derevyanchenko] for 18 months," he said.

Despite the possibility of losing one of his belts, Golovkin and Loeffler will still seek an exception as the latter responded to news of the letter.

"Gennady is a proud champion of the IBF and, as a unified world champion, he looks forward to remaining champion for a long time and defending his middleweight titles many more times," Loeffler told ESPN.

Losing one of his titles now would represent a huge blow as Golovkin's dream is to unify the entire middleweight division. He has targeted a future fight with World Boxing Organization champion Billy Joe Saunders with the Briton aiming for a September meeting between the unbeaten middleweights.