Divisional star Golovkin holds the WBA, IBF and IBO belts at 160 pounds, whilst Briton Saunders recently won the WBO version in a twelve round war with Irishman Andy Lee at Manchester Arena.
‘GGG’ was due to face WBC title holder Canelo Alvarez for the coveted green belt as previously mandated by World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, although both sides have agreed a cooling off period before holding serious talks.
That frees Golovkin up to arrange an interim bout and the Kazakh puncher’s team have immediately turned their attention to Saunders as the pound for pound star aims to pick up yet another belt for his collection.
“We made a big offer to Billy Joe Saunders one week ago, but I don’t think he will take this challenge against GGG,” manager Oleg Hermann exclusively told World Boxing News.
“We made a big offer to him and he cannot say it’s not fair,” he added.
Promoter Tom Loeffler of K2, who has overseen Golovkin’s rise to a pay-per-view fighter in the United States, then echoed Hermann’s statement.
“Yes, we made a significant offer for Billy Joe Saunders to fight GGG in the US. As of now we have had no response yet,” said Loeffler.
Coach Abel Sanchez then put his view across as Golovkin pushes to clean up at middleweight before facing Canelo in a massive pay-per-view battle, possibly at the end of 2016.
“I was told by Tom of an offer and yes, I think it’s a good fight (against Saunders) as GGG wants unifications.”
Asked what he made of Saunders against Lee earlier this month, Sanchez added: “Saunders did what he needed to do early against Lee and the knockdowns proved decisive.”
Quizzed further on any alternatives to Saunders for Golovkin’s return, Sanchez said: “I just need for him to stay busy and there is nobody I would object to.”
Saunders is likely to want to defend his new title in the UK following what was a career-best win over a tough opponent in Lee, whilst promoter Frank Warren may not want put his star fighter in with such a dangerous foe so early on in his title reign.
