Golovkin has eye on Hopkins’ middleweight defense record

1:25 PM ET

LOS ANGELES — In the immediate future of unified middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin is a defense against mandatory challenger Dominic Wade on Saturday (HBO, 10 p.m. ET) at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Beyond that he hopes world champion Canelo Alvarez will fight him in the showdown boxing fans want to see as much as any match out there. But as Golovkin continues to notch one defense after another he moves closer and closer to middleweight history.

He has made 15 consecutive title defenses — all by knockout — during his six-year reign. A win over Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) would be No. 16. The division record for consecutive defenses is 20, set by the legendary Bernard Hopkins during his 1995 to 2005 reign in which he became the undisputed champion and the first fighter to hold all four major titles simultaneously.

Make no mistake: BHop’s record is on GGG’s bucket list.

Betting linesGennady Golovkin-15000Dominic Wade+2500–Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook

“I hope I can beat the record. I like it. It’s very important to me and my team,” Golovkin told ESPN.com. “Maybe. I hope. Thinking about this, I said this would be great.”

Nobody on the team is looking too far ahead, but they are all aware of Hopkins’ record and that it is within reach.

“It’s a big part of history …

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