Golovkin resigns world champion position

Boxer Gennadiy Golovkin formally resigned his world champion position and will not face the mandatory fight ordered by the WBA championships committee, the organization announced.

The development comes just two days ahead of a scheduled March 13 purse bid to determine promotional rights for his overdue title consolidation bout versus Erislandy Lara.

The Cuban boxer, a former champion at 154 pounds, is expected to make the first defense of his full-fledged title this summer. 

Lara is now the sole recognized WBA middleweight titlist. The ‘Super’ and ‘Regular’ titles are permanently removed from the rotation as a result, per the sanctioning body’s continued title reduction campaign from August 2021 through present day.