Golovkin to defend middleweight titles against Szeremeta on December 18

Gennady Golovkin will defend his IBF and IBO middleweight titles against Kamil Szeremeta on December 18.

Golovkin, 38, was last in action in October last year, beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko by unanimous decision in New York.

The Kazakh (40-1-1) will face unbeaten Pole Szeremeta (21-0) next month, it was announced on Tuesday.

"@gggboxing makes history on Dec 18 with a record breaking 21st defence of his world middleweight title v IBF mandatory @szeremeta_kamil on @daznboxing from @HardRockHolly," Golovkin's promoter Eddie Hearn tweeted.

. @gggboxing makes history on Dec 18 with a record breaking 21st defence of his World Middleweight title v IBF mandatory @szeremeta_kamil on @daznboxing from @HardRockHolly #BigDramaShow pic.twitter.com/JnMeT1xZ91

— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) November 24, 2020

Golovkin's second-round knockout of Vanes Martirosyan in May 2018 saw him equal Bernard Hopkins' middleweight record of 20 consecutive defences.

But that run and his unbeaten record was ended by Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in a majority-decision loss in September of that year.

Szeremeta has five knockouts in his 21 professional wins but has fought outside Poland just three times – including beating Oscar Cortes on the undercard for the fight between Golovkin and Derevyanchenko.