Be Golovkin bout
Billy Joe Saunders defends his WBO middleweight title against Willie Monroe Jnr tonight having been told a unification fight with Gennady Golovkin is essentially a “done deal”.
The 28-year-old fights his American opponent at London’s Copper Box Arena just hours before Golovkin defends his WBA, WBC and IBF titles in his Las Vegas superfight with Saul Alvarez, and should he succeed, expects to fight the winner.
Saunders’ promoter Frank Warren has long been in discussions with the handlers of the 35-year-old Golovkin and had hoped to secure a date with him in Kazakhstan earlier this summer.
Each also consider the Kazakh the favourite to overcome Mexico’s Alvarez, and believe that should he do so, he will next agree to a matchup for all four world middleweight titles in London in December.
Warren said: “If Golovkin wins, it’s a done deal. It’s very close. If he delivers, I’ll deliver.
“It’s just a matter of coming through it. Willie Monroe Jnr is going to be difficult for him: he’s not here to make up the numbers. Both of these guys can see a pot of gold there.
“It’ll probably be December: that’s what we’re looking at. If he wins, whatever happens, he’s fighting in December, and we’re hoping that’ll be against the winner. If Alvarez wins, that might not be until next year.”
McLaren have put an end to their Honda nightmare after formally confirming they are severing ties with the beleaguered Japanese manufacturer. The British team, a winner of 20 world championships, will switch to Renault power next season in a desperate bid to propel them up the Formula One grid.
Honda returned to the sport to team up with McLaren in 2015, but the relationship has turned increasingly sour following another year in which they have been plagued with both a slow and unreliable engine.
McLaren’s move to Renault, the third best of four engines currently in the sport, is also likely to be enough to seal Fernando Alonso’s short-term future with the team.
Alonso, 36, is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the season, but is set to put pen-to-paper on a one-year extension.
Honda are set to remain on the grid next season and will partner Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso. Nick Kyrgios admits he has not fully committed to his career since the death of his grandmother two years ago.
The Australian, who is ranked 20th in the world, suffered another early grand slam exit at the US Open last month and has endured numerous peaks and troughs throughout a tempestuous career in top-level tennis.
He says his desire to lead “a normal life” is in conflict with his hunger to win tour matches, but rejected comparisons with another disaffected Australian player, Bernard Tomic.
“My grandmother, Julianah Foster, passed away two years ago. I didn’t get to spend the time with her I wanted to and tennis was the reason for that. It kept me away from her. It’s something that still gnaws away at me,” he told the Players Voice. “If I’m honest, I’d say I haven’t committed to tennis the way the game needs me to since she died.”