Golovkin eyes Saunders’ title Boxing Correspondent

Gennady Golovkin, the hardest pound- for- pound puncher in the world, will offer Billy Joe saunders a blockbuster world-middleweight title unification fight if his rematch with Canelo alvarez is called off.

the kazakh ko king (right) has confirmed saunders as his preferred fall-back opponent if alvarez is banned following two positive drug tests, thus forcing the cancellation of his return clash with Golovkin in las vegas on may 5.

the nevada state athletic Commission are investigating after traces of the steroid clenbuterol were found in samples given by alvarez early this month.

that process is dragging on and Golovkin said: ‘if that fight can’t happen the next step for me is saunders, since it is my dream to get all the world championship belts.’

Golovkin, whose first fight with the mexican last september ended in a disputed draw, already holds the WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight titles. the WBO belt currently worn by saunders would complete his set as undisputed world champion.

a fight with Golovkin would give saunders extra motivation to retain his title in a defence against martin murray at london’s o2 arena on april 14. Golovkin, although outraged by the alvarez drugs issue, is keen for the rematch to go ahead. He said: ‘i still hope the fight happens. it is the biggest fight in boxing right now and i would like to be on that level once again. ‘ But it is for the commission to decide if he was positive or negative. ‘ i was surprised this happened. i want competition between athletes, not labs. a clean fight, not a medicine fight.’ alvarez claims the positive test was the result of eating contaminated meat in his native mexico. His promoter, oscar de la Hoya, expects him to be cleared.