WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin will return to action against an opponent to be determined on Feb. 1 in Monaco, the site of his third-round knockout over Japanese contender Nobuhiro Ishida in March, according to the unbeaten fighter’s promoter, Tom Loeffler.

Loffler also dismissed rumors that Golovkin’s next defense will be made against England’s Martin Murray, who Loefler said had been a consideration before Golovkin’s stoppage win over Curtis Stevens on Nov. 2 in New York.

Instead, Murray, who was last in the ring for a unanimous-decision loss to RING and WBC champion Sergio Martinez, will reportedly appear on the same card as Golovkin card against an opponent to be determined.

“There’s not much scuttlebutt. [Golovkin] is fighting on Feb. 1, and it will be in Monaco at the same venue where he fought Ishida. We just haven’t confirmed the opponent. … I don’t know how this thing with Murray was released,” said Loeffler.

“Somehow, Murray re-tweeted an article that was written in England. But when we have the opponent, we’ll announce that. Hopefully, that will be within the next week. It’s a pretty straight forward situation. Murray had turned down a previous shot for him to fight Gennady in Canada, where he had no visa issues. That was a few months ago before Gennady fought Stevens.”

In the meantime, Loeffler would like to match Golovkin (28-0, 25 KOs) against Martinez or former titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who was dethroned as WBC beltholder by Martinez following a unanimous decision in December of 2012.

“The standard names are the targets. We would like a unification fight with Martinez, or a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez,” said Loeffler. “I think that those are the two biggest fights out there for Gennady right now, and until we can get one of them in the ring with him, we’re going to keep Gennady active. That’s really the same old story as what we’ve said before.”

Photo by Naoki Fukuda