Sunday 6 October 2019 15:10, UK
Gennadiy Golovkin remains hopeful of landing a third fight against rival Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, despite a below-par performance against Sergiy Derevyanchenko in New York.
'GGG' was pushed all the way at Madison Square Garden before narrowly edging out Derevyanchenko on the scorecards to regain the IBF middleweight world title after a thrilling and bruising 12-round battle.
The win keeps alive hope of a trilogy fight with Alvarez and afterwards the Kazakh reiterated his desire for a third meeting.
"Everything is ready, if 'Canelo' says yes, let's do it," the 37-year old told DAZN after his victory in New York.
"I'm ready for anything. There are so many great champions right now.
"I want to say thank you to my opponent [Derevyanchenko], I respect his team, he's very tough. This is a huge experience for me. Right now I understand I need more.
"After the first round I think it is an easy fight for me but no, it was a tough fight.
"Physically I felt so good, I think this is a bad day for me and a good day for Sergiy and his team. I know what I need to do. I lost a little bit of focus after the knockdown."
