The post-Mayweather era officially began last weekend with Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin‘s destruction of the Canadian Canelo, David Lemieux, on pay-per-view. The Kazakh literally destroyed him.

Golovkin (aka GGG) is now simply waiting to see what happens in the fight between Miguel Cotto and Saúl Canelo Álvarez on November 21. If Cotto beats Canelo in Las Vegas, he might fight Golovkin. Álvarez however (win or lose) has no choice; he will eventually have to face off against the Kazakh.

Why?

Because the Puerto Rican is slightly smaller than Golovkin, so his team and promoters might not want to take a bigger fighter that has 21 straight KO victories. On the other hand, Cotto holds a middleweight title belt (Golovkin’s division), so a unification title with Golovkin would not only be huge, but also a logical fight. But we’ll just have to wait until after the fight with Canelo to see how everything plays out.

Canelo, the favorite of a huge Latino audience, will eventually have a bout against the Kazakh, who won the silver Medal at the 2004 Olympics. GGG just had his first pay-per-view appearance this past Saturday, and from the way HBO commentators were speaking about him, it’s obvious the TV network is behind Golovkin and wants to build him up, like they did with Manny Pacquiao many years ago.

And to make matters more interesting, it’s reported that Gennady Golovkin apparently mishandled Canelo in a sparring session in 2011 when the Mexican was training for his fight against Englishman Ryan Rhodes.

In statements made to Grantland, boxing journalist Dough Fischer recalls that “toward the end of the second round [of sparring], Golovkin nailed Alvarez with a short hook and it took his legs out from under him… [Canelo] looked pissed. He looked pissed that he got caught. Maybe he was pissed that there was a witness.”

Triple G has dispatched tough opponents, like Matthew Macklin, Martin Rubio, Daniel Geale, and Gabriel Rosado with relative ease. Despite his accomplishments, Golovkin is just becoming known to the casual boxing fan, which is essential if he wants the big fights and big pay-per-view money.

The Kazakh is an amazing boxer, but being a relative unknown meant that he became the “most avoided fighter in boxing.” Until this past weekend, facing Golovkin was simply too much risk and too little reward, but thanks to the efforts of HBO, promoters, journalists, and his coach Abel Sánchez, amongst others, this no longer holds true; a win over Golovkin will embellish the record of any boxer trying to make it to the top of the sport, so this is where Canelo comes in.

So unless Mayweather makes the comeback many are expecting him to, or Cotto and Canelo go for a rematch of their upcoming November 21 bout, it is very likely that Canelo vs. Golovkin will happen in the Cinco de Mayo weekend.

And I am sure Canelo wants to.