GOLOVKIN- BROOK WEIGH IN INDIGO 2,LONDON PIC;LAWRENCE LUSTIG WBC,IBF AND IBO MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE GENNADY GOLOVKIN V KELL BROOK WEIGH IN FOR THEIR FIGHT AT LONDONS 02 ARENA ON SATURDAY(9 SEPT)
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By Norm Frauenheim-

Gennady Golovkin is landing endorsements at the rate he scores knockouts. Everything from the Apple Watch to Nike’s Jordan Brand is on a lengthening blue-chip list that says a lot more about his potential crossover appeal than a spot in any of the pound-for-pound rankings.

He is becoming an international brand. His familiar acronym identifies him, quickly and simply. But it could also say something about where he’s going. That’s GGG, Gennady Going Global.

His emergence has been marked by diligence, patience and some frustration. But now this son of a Kazakhstan coal miner is at the doorstep of his biggest moment on Sept. 16 fight against Canelo Alvarez.

He talked about it at Mandalay Bay, in a suite high above the runaways at Las Vegas McCarron Airport, to me and the Los Angeles Times Sunday on the morning after he joined Canelo in the ring to announce the bout in the wake – and we do mean wake – of Canelo’s blowout of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at T-Mobile Arena.

Golovkin looked out at the horizon. The view was unlimited, a little bit like what GGG could suddenly see in his own future.

“Wow,’’ he said. “This is my dream.’’

Boxing has a way of turning dreams into nightmares, of course. But Golovkin projects a quiet – call it understated – charisma that seems to say no moment is too big.

“This is boxing and business,’’ he said in a matter of fact tone.

The deal for the Canelo bout had been foremost on Golovkin’s mind for years. But there were always delays, loopholes, explanations and excuses. There were so many that GGG said, yeah, he was beginning to give up hope it would ever happen.

About 10 days ago, however, the deal was done.

“Finally — and I say that with an exclamation point,’’ said Tom Loeffler of K2, which promotes Golovkin.

The long, often exasperating trail to a deal might have been met with a couple of days of celebration in some corners. But not in Golovkin’s quiet corner. About 12 hours after the announcement, GGG was happy and impressed with Canelo’s dominance of Chavez Jr.

In a sport so known for trash talk, Golovkin is the polite kid next door. He’s 35 with the smile of a 10-year-old. The difference, of course, is that he can knock out just about any other kid in any other neighborhood in the world.

He spent much of last Sunday talking about Canelo and their similar styles, so alike that there is already talk about a rematch or two. It’s a little early to speculate on that. But it is an element, one of many, that makes the September bout so intriguing.

“I know his style, he knows my style,’’ Golovkin said. “I think he brings something new in September and I bring something new. It will be war. We both respect boxing.’’

There are already signs that the bout will do good business. According to media reports Thursday, HBO’s pay-per-view sales for Canelo-Chavez Jr. will do at least as well as Canelo’s victory over Miguel Cotto in November 2015. That one did 983,000 buys. HBO and Golden Boy Promotions are still counting. They are hopeful it hits the one million, a milestone.

Whatever the final tally, it’s a promising sign that GGG-Canelo will exceed one million and perhaps approach 1.5 million. Amid rampant theft of pay-per view telecasts and public exasperation with the PPV model, that’s big.

Expect a summer full of promises, rumors, changing odds and everything else that goes along with a hyperbolic sales pitch. Until then, however, Golovkin will be at home in Los Angeles, following his 8-year-old son in a youth hockey league.

He’ll begin training in July in Big Bear, the mountaintop camp east of Los Angeles. But, first, there’s a trip back to Kazakhstan in June for the 2017 World Expo in the city of Astana. He will be Kazakhstan’s spokesman.

“He’s become the most famous citizen of Kazakhstan, erasing the image of Borat,’’ Loeffler said in a reference to a 2006 film, a so-called mockumentary.

Borat was a laugher. But nobody is laughing much about Kazakhstan anymore, at least not since GGG became a well-known trademark and a feared fighter.

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