Gennady Golovkin was on the phone with the President of Kazakhstan during his mysterious call in the ring after losing to Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.
The middleweight world champion was soundly beaten when he moved up to 168lb for a shot at his rival's undisputed title over the weekend, and fans were baffled to see him enjoying a good natured phone call in the ring seconds after the final bell. It has now been confirmed he was speaking with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev; the president of his home country.
Golovkin is one of the most famous fighters in his nation, and was congratulated on his performance, even though he wasn't able to do enough to land a victory. Kazakh media reported yesterday that Tokayev had called him, and his publicist Fred Sternburg confirmed it hours later.
Sternburg posted a tweet saying "For those wondering about the call Golovkin received inside the ring following his fight with Canelo, it was from the President of Kazakhstan." It is believed that the Kazakh President told the fighter “For the fans, you were and will remain the national champion and the best in the world. We are proud of you."
Golovkin is still the unified middleweight champion and insists that he will be going back down to defend his belts despite the loss. Some fans called for Golovkin to retire after being comfortably defeated by Alvarez in their third meeting, given that he is also now 40-years-old.
But he plans to continue fighting and claimed that he has a number of opponents lined up for potential bouts down the line, with Chris Eubank Jr still pursuing that shot. The Brit is currently otherwise engaged with Conor Benn on October 8, but could be a future challenger after years of chasing that bout.
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"I have a great plan with a lot of opponents," Golovkin said in his post-fight interview. "But today, congratulations to all boxing fans, remember I have three belts at 160lb, I'll come back, I'm still champion. I want to shake hands with Canelo and his whole team and I hope you understand he's a real warrior. If you don't understand, you don't understand nothing."
Alvarez is now set to take a prolonged break from the ring after a busy 19 months since his December 2020 ring return in which he has fought six times. He claims to have severely injured his wrist during his undisputed fight with Caleb Plant last year, and is now going to get surgery which could keep him out as long as a year, although he is eyeing up a May return.
The undisputed super-middleweight champion suffered a shock defeat to Dmitry Bivol back in May of this year when he moved up to light-heavyweight for a second crack at world honours. He just wasn't big enough for the Russian, but insists that he will try again once he is fit and healthy.
