No matter who wins the September 16 bout between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, the middleweight division is due for a shake-up-almost immediately-and neither fighter is going to be too eager to face what's coming.
Jermall Charlo, who recently vacated his IBF jr. middleweight title for a run at a middleweight belt, is reportedly on a fast track to a title shot. Business buzz has him possibly facing Argentina's Jorge Sebastian Heiland in a WBC middleweight title eliminator on the Mikey Garcia-Adrien Broner undercard July 29. A win will make him number one contender to the WBC belt held by the winner of Alvarez-Golovkin.
Right behind Charlo is WBA jr. middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrdade, who many think has already outgrown the 154 lb. division, both literally and figuratively.
Jermell Charlo, twin brother of Jermall Charlo, would likely have announced his move up to 160 already, if his brother hadn't done so first. Charlo is currently the WBC jr. middleweight champ and may be quickly approaching the same dilemma as his brother and Andrade as a young fighter maturing into a larger-weight fighter.
The perpetually ignored and avoided Erislandy Lara, while no longer a young stud on the rise, would gladly ditch his WBA 154 lb. strap for the opportunity to campaign full-time in the more lucrative glamour division of middleweight. The Cuban boxing stylist would likely jump at the opportunity of a rematch against Canelo Alvarez, who beat him via razor-thin split decision back in 2014, and has practically been begging for the last couple of years for a shot at Golovkin.
With the Charlos, Andrade, and Lara all ready and able to make the move to 160, either immediately or within a year's time, the winner of Alvarez-Golovkin will find plenty of prime, high-end competition just waiting for a shot.
Golovkin, especially, has pined away publicly for big and challenging fights. Well, the coming wave of talent should have him up to his ears in young fighters who are hungrier and significantly more skilled than anyone he has faced to date. And Alvarez, who has talked about earning a spot among the legends of Mexican boxing, will certainly have plenty of worthwhile challenges post-Golovkin.
This is, of course, if either Alvarez or Golovkin shows even a remote hint of interest in fighting any of these guys.
Right now, all of the possible junior middleweight imports are high risk-relatively low reward propositions. In theory, this shouldn't matter to a team Golovkin, which made Canelo Alvarez's life miserable for apparently weighing the risk-reward ratio while considering a bout with "Triple G." If press releases and well-sculpted interviews with friendly media sources are to be believed, then the Kazakh KO artist should jump at the chance of meeting these young champions and work diligently to strike a mutually beneficial deal to make these fights happen.
But we all know that publicity is just publicity and when it comes to assuming risk, ALL fighters pretty much take a similar stance-Risky fights get made when there's enough money on the table and not one moment before that.
Alvarez, for all his own bravado, has already had a chance to mix it up with these 154 lb. champs, but only opted to call Lara's number. The 26-year-old box office star has gone out of his way to NOT mention Andrade or the Charlos, despite their status as division top dogs and fellow 154 lb. titlists.
The likely scenario is that the winner of Alvarez-Golovkin tries to go after relative soft touch and WBO 160 lb. paper champ, Billy Joe Saunders. Golovkin may wind up at 168 before too long and Alvarez could explore some middleweight retreads like David Lemieux or Martin Murray or, possibly, a return to his own junior middleweight reign as WBO champ.
Realistically, though, neither is going to be eager to go out on a limb and pave the way for hungry, emerging fighters who could force a passing of the torch so soon after getting their own hands on the torch.