ASTANA – Kazakh legendary boxer Gennadiy Golovkin officially relinquished the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) middleweight title, the last belt he had since vacating the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the International Boxing Federation (IBO) belts, Sports.kz reported on June 14.
Photo credit: boxingscene.com.
Golovkin, 41, started resigning from his world champion positions in February before fights where he was supposed to defend his titles.
According to IBO President Ed Levine, Golovkin held the IBO belt for over 12 years, since the start of his world championship reign in 2011. The IBO President noted that his initial string of 15 straight knockout victories clearly shows why top contenders avoided fighting him for years.
“Powerful, a superb boxer, and never knocked down, he set the pound-for-pound standard for all,” Levine stated.
Golovkin won the IBO title on Dec. 9, 2011, after beating Lajuan Simon with a devastating first-round knockout. In 2018, he formally lost his belt to his greatest ring rival Saul Canelo Alvarez but returned it a year later, defeating Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a fierce 12-round battle.
Golovkin defended the belt twice to Kamil Szeremeta and Ryota Murata before losing to Canelo in his last fight in September 2022.
