WBA Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin was forced to postpone his April 26 fight with Andy Lee after the death of his father according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
“He can’t fight on April 26,” said Golovkin;s promoter Tom Loeffler. “There’s a 40-day mourning period. He will be staying with his family. His two older brothers died (in military action) and he’s now the patriarch of the family. He’s got to take responsibility. It’s very sensitive.”
“Everything is on hold right now,” he said. “We don’t know if it will take two months or how long it will take. It’s hard to say.”
Loeffler and Golovkin trainer Abel Sanchez had come to the Alamodome hoping to announce Golovkin-Lee. They also were on hand to watch Saturday night’s super middleweight rematch between former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Bryan Vera.
If Chavez wins, he could face Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs) later in the year. Loeffler and Chavez promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank have discussed the possible HBO PPV fight.
Loeffler said Golovkin would go up to super middleweight to face Chavez if the fight is made, but that everything is on hold because of his father’s death.
“Bob approached me with the idea of the Chavez fight and we’ve always said Gennady would go up to 168 for the right fight,” Loeffler said.
