Gennady Golovkin just suffered a big blow on his next fight after news that erstwhile mandatory challenger Tureano Johnson has been forced to beg off from a possible fight this coming April.

Johnson is reportedly down with an injured right rotator cuff, something the Bahamian professional boxer incurred back in October.

Johnson faced Eamonn O’Kane in that official title elimination contest that ironically served as one of the undercards for Triple G’s fight against David Lemieux.

The Bahamian has been complaining about discomfort on the shoulder. After visiting a doctor in the Bahamas, he was told that he would require surgery for it.

Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez clarified, however, that even if Johnson would not undergo surgery, they were not going to allow him to fight if he is not 100% healthy.

"Tureano will come to the States for a second opinion," Gomez said via ESPN. "But for the time being, the fight with GGG is off. We will not allow him to fight until he is 100 percent medically cleared."

Such leaves the Kazakh knockout artist without an opponent. There were talks of a possible unification bout with Billy Joe Saunders earlier on but the Briton wanted more money on the table to make the fight happen.

Talks eventually bogged down, with Saunders and company opting to move in a different direction.

With the chips down, Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions says that it may be better off if they end up arranging that showdown with Canelo Alvarez instead.

The Mexican brawler is set to fight on May 7 in Las Vegas but has not yet named any opponent. Liam Smith, Willie Monroe Jr. and Gabriel Rosado were mentioned as possible names but nothing has been made official as of today.

With both Alvarez and Golovkin still without a partner, it does make a bit of sense for the two to simply face each other by May as the likeliest date. However, it should be remembered that there are stipulations that Alvarez and camp want.

That is with regards to the catchweight issue which Golovkin and company are not too keen on. Golovkin and the WBC are aligned to have it at the full weight of 160 lbs, though that issue would have been up for debate after Alvarez’ fight this May.

With changes now evident, will Golovkin soften on his stance and agree to it just to make the fight happen?

One thing that Golovkin needs to consider is that if the catchweight is not settled, he could end up not facing Alvarez at all. Alvarez has made it clear that he will only fight at 155 lbs, as reported previously on ESPN Deportes.

If that is the case, Triple G may eventually win the title by default. His target of unifying the belts will likely be satisfied should that be the case. However, as far as staying active and continuously fighting is concerned, Golovkin could end up waiting for a long time to find another worthy fighter in the ring.