Chris Eubank Jr to open talks over Gennady Golovkin fight

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Chris Eubank Jr.’s team intend to open talks over a potential fight with Gennady Golovkin.

Golovkin had been expected to target a third encounter with Canelo Alvarez as his next fight, but the Mexican’s defeat to Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night means he is likely to be otherwise engaged if he activates his rematch clause.

That may enable Eubank Jr., who has long wanted the chance to take on Golovkin.

The Kazakh middleweight beat Ryōta Murata in Japan last month to add the WBA world title to the IBF and IBO belts that Golovkin already held.

“Absolutely,” Eubank Jr.’s promoter Kalle Sauerland told the Daily Mail when asked if they would get in touch with Golovkin’s team.

“We will be in talks with them this week to see if it’s going to be an option.”

Alvarez suggested after his defeat on points to Bivol that he intended to have a rematch with the Russian fighter, but is yet to officially confirm that is the plan.

The 31-year-old may yet favour a trilogy encounter with Golovkin, but Eubank Jr. has already called out the Kazakh on Twitter to suggest himself as an alternative if a third fight is not arranged.

Sauerland added: “There’s one thing that Canelo says in the ring that he’s going to have the rematch with Bivol, but it’s another thing exercising it in writing. We’re just going to have to wait and see what happens there.

“We know the Golovkin people well. We’ve always said he’s the No 1 on the list of course. He’s the standing champion at middleweight and that’s the one that Eubank wants.

“We’ll have to just wait and see about the situation between Canelo and Bivol.”

Eubank Jr. defeated Liam Williams in Cardiff in early February in his last fight.