by David P. Greisman

Gennady Golovkin, who is mourning the recent death of his father from a heart attack, will not be fighting on April 26 on HBO in Madison Square Garden, according to Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions.

“We found out today from Gennady’s manager that he’s not going to be able to fight April 26,” Loeffler told BoxingScene.com. “We [Loeffler and trainer Abel Sanchez] were both over there for the memorial service last week in Kazakhstan. The whole family’s taking it really hard, but Gennady’s got the responsibility now as the patriarch of the family. They have a 40-day mourning period, and then they have to deal with what they’re going to do with their mother. She’s alone now in the house. Until I hear from them further, we can’t even begin to discuss when he’s coming back, as far as boxing or training.”

Golovkin’s father was 68.

“They have this belief that the spirit of the deceased still stays around for 40 days,” Loeffler said. “Every day they’re together in the house with the family. It could be a lot longer than that, by the time they take care of all the responsibilities. … It’s really hit us all hard. It really feels more like a family than a team.”

Added Sanchez: “We as a team need to give him time to heal. Since he is the patriarch of his family now, he needs to take care of a lot of things over there. … As busy as we’ve had him, he deserves the time to do the things that he’s got to do for himself.”

HBO is hoping to keep the April 26 broadcast date and is exploring options, according to the network. K2 has a hold on Madison Square Garden and will look into what to do with it.

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