Gennady Golovkin teases possible boxing return

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Gennady “GGG” Golovkin is cooking something up.

Three years after announcing his boxing retirement, the former unified middleweight champion shocked the world when he teased his fans with a possible comeback fight.

During the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, Golovkin expressed his intent to pull off a “Manny Pacquiao,” which would end his three-year ring inactivity.

When asked if he is willing to box again and compete in the professional ranks, Golovkin quickly replied: “Yeah, why not? I feel my old emotions here.”

Golovkin’s last dance inside the ring was in September 2022 against his archrival, Canelo Alvarez, during the last bout of their intense trilogy.

After the unanimous decision loss, Golovkin later confirmed that he would be hanging up his gloves for good and redirecting his focus to life after boxing.

However, after Alvarez’s loss to Terence Crawford, Golovkin’s timely statements were immediately dissected by several boxing experts.

Some predicted that Golovkin would serve as Alvarez’s final opponent before retirement, while others speculated that the Kazakhstani brawler could challenge Crawford for the super middleweight belts.

In the middle of the press conference, a reporter asked Golovkin if he already had an opponent in mind, to which he responded: “That’s my secret.”

Holding an impressive boxing résumé capped off with 42 wins, 37 knockouts and two losses, Golovkin was highly regarded as one of the most explosive middleweight champions boxing fans had ever witnessed.

Before challenging Alvarez for the unification bout, Golovkin never lost a single professional fight in 40 bouts and tallied a dominant 80% knockout percentage.

Some boxing legends, including Roy Jones Jr. and Andre Ward, previously said that Golovkin’s retirement was too abrupt and they expected him to have at least three more fights before bidding farewell to the sweet science.

Guess those comments just struck Golovkin, and we might see him once again — maybe later this year or in the first quarter of 2026.