• Gennady Golovkin v Martin Murray

Golovkin wants Lee-Quillin winner, not Froch or Cotto

Gennady Golovkin is fast becoming one of the biggest names in boxing © Getty Images

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Gennady Golovkin will target a fight with the winner of Andy Lee-Peter Quillin later this year rather than Carl Froch or Miguel Cotto, should he beat Martin Murray on Saturday.

The entertaining WBA-WBC interim world middleweight champion defends his belts against British challenger Murray in Monte Carlo on Saturday after halting 28 of his previous 31 opponents.

Golovkin, 32, is a big favourite to retain his titles since 18 of his last opponents have not made it to the final bell. It would take a huge upset to end Golovkin's unbeaten record and his manager, Max Herman, says the champion will then pursue his goal of unifying the world title belts.

Herman believes facing victor of the April 11 clash between Irishman Lee, the WBO middleweight champion, and unbeaten American Quillin is the most realistic high-profile fight for Golovkin later in 2015.

A bout with bigger names such as Froch, Cotto or even Floyd Mayweather Jr are long shots, according to Herman.

British promoter Eddie Hearn has mentioned Golovkin as a possible opponent for WBA world super-middleweight champion Froch this year while Puerto Rico's Cotto holds the full version of the WBC world middleweight title. But Herman thinks a clash with the WBO middleweight champion is more likely for Golovkin in 2015.

Martin Murray faces Gennady Golovkin in Monte Carlo on Saturday © Getty Images

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"He hopes in the future to fight against Andy Lee and of course there could be a potential fight with Froch," Herman told EPSN. "Absolutely he could fight in the UK one day if there's a good opponent - maybe Carl Froch or maybe Andy Lee, it depends.

"He would love to fight the Lee-Quillin winner because he wants to unify the world titles. He's mandatory challenger for Miguel Cotto but I don't think that fight will happen soon.

"Floyd Mayweather is not a realistic option for Gennady - it's just a fantasy. It's beyond our scope of opponents because of a number of issues.

"Carl Froch and Andy Lee are definitely more realistic. Andre Ward has not fought since November 2013 so he hasn't fought for 18 months now and he will want a tune-up fight when he comes back and then we will need to then build up the fight with Gennady. It takes time to do all that but 2016 it's [a fight against Ward] a fight that is realistic for Gennady.

"Carl Froch has plans to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and maybe Bernard Hopkins, but he has never mentioned Gennady Golovkin as a possible opponent. I don't think Carl is afraid of fighting Gennady; it's just a question of business and Carl has nothing to prove, he's 36, and I think he will prefer other options than Gennady. But we would like to make this fight.

"I'm not very optimistic about the Cotto fight because Cotto has a completely different plan other than to fight Gennady. Last time he fought was June last year and we don't know when he will fight next.

"It's understandable because Cotto is not a big guy in the middleweight division, so I'm not optimistic about Cotto and am more optimistic about a future fight with Saul Alvarez because the Mexicans like Gennady."

Golovkin's exciting style is attracting a growing fanbase all over the world, from Kazakhstan to Germany to America, where he now lives in California with his wife and son. After Saturday's fight, the Kazakh may well have more British followers since it is being shown live on terrestrial TV.

"He's very popular in America," Herman said. "His last fight in LA sold out in one month before the fight and we had to put some extra seats in."

Golovkin has yet to fight a big name opponent but Herman says that is not affecting the fighter's motivation and is confident a big showdown will happen soon.

"It's not very difficult for him to stay hungry because Gennady understands that he's only at the beginning of his big career," Herman said. "He's not fought anyone from the big league yet like Canelo, Chavez or Cotto. He wants to make the biggest possible fights but the problem is that they don't want it.

"We are quite relaxed and sooner or later he will get the big fights."

Murray stands in the way of Herman and others such as Tom Loeffler, the managing director of K2 Promotions, plotting the next move for Golovkin in their quest to make him one of boxing's biggest global superstars.

And Herman insists that despite all the talk of possible future opponents, Golovkin will not underestimate Murray, who will be having his third world title fight after a points draw with Felix Sturm in 2011 and a points loss to Sergio Martinez in 2013.

"He thinks Martin Murray is his hardest opponent so far," Herman added. "He thought Martin won the fight against Sturm and although he lost on paper to Martinez, a lot of people thought he won that won too.

"Gennady thinks Martin is a very strong guy and he was at the same level as Martinez."

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