GGG vs. Derevyanchenko to decide future of boxing’s middleweight division

We are the closing in on one of the most anticipated middleweight contests of 2019, a year that has had no shortage of intrigue inside of boxing’s money division.

The vacant IBF middleweight title will be on the line when Gennady Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs) and Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs) collide on October 5th inside of the world-famous Madison Square Garden. The title, which was stripped from Canelo Alvarez when his team would not put it on the line against Derevyanchenko — the mandatory challenger — has quite the lineage that dates all the way back to 1983 when Melvin Hagler defeated Wilford Scypion to become the inaugural champ.

It’s a belt that simply cannot be mentioned without the name Bernard Hopkins in the same breath. B-Hop held the strap for over a decade, defending it successfully 20 times over his reign.

Today, it’s one that will surely win the victor a contest against the top dog of the division in Alvarez come Cinco de Mayo 2020. For Golovkin, DAZN — the streaming service that will host the fight — the fans and all of the bookmakers around the world, a trilogy fight against Canelo is simply a must. And for Derevyanchenko, if the 33-year-old can somehow get past GGG on October 5th, Alvarez and his team may no longer be able to duck the physically intimidating Ukrainian.

One look at the statistics via boxstat.co show us why GGG is currently sitting pretty as a -400 favorite on online sportsbooks. That said, these odds — Derevyanchenko opened at +275 — are the best any opponent has had opposite GGG outside of the Alvarez fights since the now legendary Kazakh invaded America.

To say this contest is an interesting one in terms of the future of the middleweight division as we head into a new decade would be quite the understatement. Make sure to tune into DAZN and stay tuned here from much more coverage as we close out 2019 with a proverbial bang.