Gennady Golovkin has stated that he does not want to retire from boxing following his trilogy bout against Canelo Alvarez in September.

“GGG,” who turned 40 in April, told TMZ Sports in an interview published Thursday that he’d be open to a fourth fight versus Alvarez.

“Not yet. I’m not ready yet,” Golovkin replied, when questioned about retiring. “… The business side [of continuing to fight], it’s very interesting.”

The Kazakhstani superstar has begun a long and successful career. He earned a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and has a professional record of 42-1-1, with both losses and draws coming against Alvarez.

If they win their third meeting, the head-to-head series would be even at 1-1-1, prompting calls for a rematch between the high-profile combination.

If Alvarez wins again, there is unlikely to be nearly as much interest in a fourth fight, but the Mexican superstar is coming off only his second career loss (57-2-2) against WBA super light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.

On Tuesday, Golovkin spoke with Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole about his eventual defeat.

“Canelo has shown he learns from his mistakes,” he remarked. “He’s not the kind of fighter who will make the same mistake twice. But at the same time, [the Alvarez-Bivol fight] needs to be analyzed.”

Since losing to Alvarez in September 2018, Golovkin has won four straight bouts, including an April knockout of Ryota Murata to capture the WBA super middleweight belt.

It sets the setting for what should be another extremely contested bout in which both combatants can make a huge statement.

Golovkin’s Conflict in the United States

Golovkin was motivated to become a household star, aspired to fight in Madison Square Garden and Staples Center like the Klitschko brothers. He joined K2 Promotions and began training with Abel Sanchez, the seasoned trainer who has worked with Hall of Famer Terry Norris and many other elite athletes. Sanchez was first misled by Golovkin’s humble appearance: “I looked at him, I thought: ‘Man! This guy is a choir boy!” But from their first meeting, Sanchez was astonished and amazed by Golovkin’s talent and attitude. Since then, he has sought to incorporate Mexican-style aggressiveness into Golovkin’s Eastern European-style amateur discipline, resulting in a fearsome hybrid champion. “I have a chalkboard in the gym, and I wrote Ali’s name, Manny Pacquiao’s name and his name,” Sanchez explained. “I told him, ‘You could be right there.’ He was all sheepish, but once I felt his hands, and I saw how smart he was in the ring and how he caught on… sheesh. He’s going to be the most-avoided fighter in boxing, or he’s going to get the chance he deserves.”

Golovkin was supposed to make his HBO debut in August 2012 against Dmitry Pirog (20-0, 15 KOs). Pirog relinquished his WBO middleweight belt in order to face Golovkin. This was due to Pirog being assigned to face interim champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam. Pirog sustained a back injury—a ruptured disc—weeks before the bout, preventing him from fighting on the scheduled date, but Golovkin would still face another opponent on HBO. Pirog’s return attempts were stymied by recurring back problems, thus forcing him to retire early.