Tom Loeffler speaks in prideful tones about K2 Promotions’ big night

Gennady Golovkin

Gennady Golovkin/Photo courtesy of K2 Promotions

 

K2 Promotions will have the lead fighter in Saturday’s co-promotion with Matchroom Boxing, which will feature K2’s Gennady Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) defending his middleweight championship against Matchroom’s Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) at O2 Arena in London (on HBO). On the same night, K2 Promotions will be the lead promoter for the super flyweight title fight between champion Carlos Cuadras (35-0-1, 27 KOs) of Mexico and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs) of Nicaragua at the Fabulous Forum.

It, too, will be televised by HBO. Tom Loeffler, general manager of K2 Promotions, speaks in prideful tones about K2’s big night.

“I think it’s the first time two fights of this magnitude have been put together by a promotional company on two different continents (on the same night)”, Loeffler
said.

It wasn’t easy getting it all done, he said.

“We had to get the Triple G (Golovkin) fight done first, and then I had been pushing HBO for Chocolatito’s own HBO date,” Loeffler said.

Gonzalez, who has won titles in three weight classes and is considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world by some, will be looking for a fourth when he moves
up in weight to challenge Cuadras.

Cuadras believes he can hand Gonzalez his first loss.

“He’s going to come right at me,” Cuadras said at Tuesday’s final news conference. “I’ve gotta counterpunch him, counterpunch him, counterpunch him. He’s going to come
with a lot of pressure and I just have to be ready for that. And I think I am.”

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Gennady Golovkin figures to take heat for fighting welterweight Kell Brook

Gennady Golovkin

Gennady Golovkin/Photo courtesy of K2 Promotions

 

Considering Saul “Canelo” Alvarez took so much heat for defending his middleweight title against a welterweight – Amir Khan – in May, it was surprising to hear Friday morning that middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will now do the same.

Golovkin will defend his three belts against Kell Brook, who holds one of the welterweight titles, on Sept. 10 at O2 Arena in Brook’s native England (on HBO).

Golvokin is trained by West Covina native Abel Sanchez. He was asked via telephone why Golovkin will be fighting a welterweight.

“Well, if you recall, the first welterweight in our time that did that was Ray Leonard and he beat the middleweight (Marvin Hagler), so he (Brook) is willing to do what others are not,” Sanchez said. “He’s undefeated, he’s been doing great lately, he’s having a hard time getting fights, also; people don’t want to face him. So it will be the best welterweight in the world against the best middleweight in the world.”

Some consider Keith “One Time” Thurman the best welterweight champion among the four, but OK.

Anyway, it was believed that middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. would be Golovkin’s next opponent. Eubank had been doing a lot of talking about how he wanted Golovkin. But the deal did not come to fruition. According to Sanchez, Eubank did what many others have done in the past when it comes to a possible fight with the heavy-hitting Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs).

“We go back to all these guys who say they want to fight Golovkin, but when it comes down to it, for some reason it’s not as important to them when it comes down to signing the contract,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez believes that at the end of the day, the Eubank team didn’t really want to tangle with Golovkin. Keep in mind Eubank and Brook are both promoted by Eddie Hearn.

“For Chris, I think that the father, or the Eubank team, just made it so impossible for Eddie that it was a way of saying, ‘We don’t want the fight,’ ” Sanchez said. “Maybe that fight will be in the future. But Kell was offered the same world-class deal that Eubank was being offered, identical, so now Kell Brook takes it and Eubank doesn’t. I dont get that. It was good enough for Kell, but not good enough for Chris.”

Eubank’s father is former middleweight/super middleweight champion Chris Eubank.

Golovkin, commenting in a statement, seems to like this fight.

“I’m very excited to be fighting in front of the great British boxing fans and promise another ‘Big Drama Show’ against undefeated Kell Brook,” he said. “I give him much respect for taking this fight.”

That’s the key here, is that Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) took the fight.

“We have a great deal of respect for Kell Brook for stepping up and facing Gennady when so many have been reluctant to do so,” said Tom Loeffler, of K2 Promotions, which promotes Golovkin. “We’ve tried to come to the UK before for fights with Carl Froch, Billy Jo Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr., but Kell Brook is the first to accept the challenge.”

Brook put a good spin on a fight that is likely to face scrutiny similar to that Alvarez experienced for taking on the smaller Khan, who was viciously knocked out in the sixth round.

“When this fight got offered to me, I accepted within minutes and I can’t wait,” Brook said. “Everyone knows I’m a huge welterweight and I know I will carry my speed and accuracy and even more power through the weights. … You have seen some huge names run from (Golovkin), but I’m running to him.”

 

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So-called verbal agreement for ‘Canelo’-Golovkin means very little at this time

Gennady Golovkin

Gennady Golovkin/Photo courtesy of K2 Promotions

 

OK, so promoters Oscar De La Hoya and Tom Loeffler apparently met at De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions offices in Los Angeles on Wednesday to talk about a fight between middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and former middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, according to several publications.

It’s no secret that the boxing world was hopeful that fight would happen this September. But Alvarez recently vacated his WBC title rather than sign to fight Golovkin under the duress of a deadline set forth by the WBC.

Well, the only thing that apparently came out of Wednesday’s meeting was that the sides verbally agreed to make the fight – in September 2017. That means virtually nothing because there is no contract. And this is boxing, where so much can happen in 15 months.

Before everyone who so badly wants to see this fight goes off the deep end in celebration, chill out. Golovkin is likely still going to be a monster in 15 months, and we’re not sure De La Hoya will ever want Alvarez to tangle with him.

Golovkin, of course, would have happily fought Alvarez this September. It’s De La Hoya, Alvarez’s promoter, who seems reluctant to put his man into a fight with the beastly Golovkin at this point in time. We’re going to hear how De La Hoya wants this fight to marinate and how this extra time will allow Alvarez to mature into a full-fledged 160-pound middleweight, instead of one that toils at a catch-weight of 155.

If this fight happens at some point, terrific. But as a story on Yahoo.com points out, Loeffler – Golovkin’s promoter – said nothing has been signed. So there is really nothing to celebrate.

The feeling here is, we’ll believe it when we see it.

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Golovkin will mourn father, will not defend title against Andy Lee on April 26

Trainer Abel Sanchez told us just last week that middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin would likely be announcing his next title defense – April 26 against Andy Lee – this week. But over the weekend Golovkin decided to stay in his native Kazakhstan to observe a 40-day mourning period for the sudden loss of his father, Gennady Ivanovich Golovkin.

The elder Golovkin was just 68 when he died of a  heart attack on Feb. 18.

“Everything in regard to Gennady’s boxing career is currently on hold,” said Tom Loeffler, an executive with K2-Promotions, which promotes Golovkin. “His priority is to spend time with his family and at the appropriate time he will advise us when he is ready to continue his boxing career.”

Golovkin is trained by West Covina’s Sanchez out of his gym in Big Bear.

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