(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: I’m a big fan of fair. I do my best to research facts and try to avoid the flowery words, smoke and mirrors, propaganda words thrown out by a fighter to get the public on their side. I even go to websites where the reader can look up the facts, but still sometimes it doesn’t work do to the emotional comments I read in response to my blogs. But let’s talk fair. Gennady Golovkin trainer, Abel Sanchez threw a carrot out to the public sometime ago saying that Triple G, (Gennady’s nickname) will fight anybody, anytime, anywhere from 154 to 175 pounds.
There has been major talk from the public from the public about GGG fighting Andre Ward who has expressed his interest in fighting the 160 pound WBA champ. But when Sanchez was asked about a possible fight with Ward? His response? “We want to move up after destroying every fighter who wants to fight us at 160 so that we can be on par with Andre Ward”. That seems fair enough.
But let’s be real. Sergio Martinez, as of right now, isn’t looking to fight GGG. He is looking to cash out against Miguel Cotto. And the fact that he is doing this, the pressure for him to fight GGG at this time has been swept under the carpet. IBF champ Felix Strum isn’t showing any interest and neither is WBO champ Peter Quillin (the Quillin fight is factored in with the cold War between HBO and Showtime). So understanding this and knowing, why are they not moving up to face Andre Ward? What is there to clean out if the champions are not willing to face GGG? It seems they are sticking around the middleweight division in hopes that something breaks and they get a unification bout. I have nothing against this move. Andre Ward is doing the EXACT same thing that GGG is doing. He has nothing to prove at 168. He’s dominated the division (by way of the super six tournament) and stands alone at the top. Ward is simply waiting around to see what’s going to happen with GGG.
It’s a calculated move by both fighters. Let’s say for the sake of it Tom Loeffler, GGG’S promoter, accepts an offer from Dan Gossen, Ward’s promoter, to fight Ward. What can happen is Sergio camp, should they beat Miguel Cotto in their upcoming fight in June, just might come out and say “We are ready to fight now”. In Team Golovkin’s eyes, they missed their chance to show who the best middleweight is and make some decent cash.
At that point, the build up to the Ward fight has lost its luster. For Ward, if Stevenson calls him out, and Ward accepts, the same thing can happen. GGG’S camp can say “We are ready to fight now”. From a physical standpoint, if both fighters move up, it’s highly unlikely they both move back down. At that point, a catch weight might be discussed.
As I stated above both fighters are sticking around their divisions to see what can manifest. My only beef with this whole thing is the media is pushing and pressuring Andre Ward to move up and fight Bernard Hopkins and Andonis Stevens while GGG is not getting that same kind of heat. Ward said it best. “There has been the (media) press about me, and this pressure for me to up to 175 all of a sudden when I’m not a full fledged 175 pounder. But there is no pressure on Golovkin, like it’s okay for him to say ‘Wait, not right now’. But it’s not okay for me to say it” (as told to Ring TV on January 6th). And he’s right. Where is the overhaul for GGG to fight Ward like Ward is getting to fight Stevenson? Also what is not helping Ward’s case is he is labeled boring while GGG is this big knockout machine. Fans will gravitate more to knockout artist than a cerebral fighter.
An exciting fighter will get cut a lot more slack than the cerebral fighter. If Floyd Mayweather or Andre Ward stated they will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime, does anybody really think he would be able to live peacefully? Absolutely Not. I’m a BIG FAN of fair. Telling Ward he needs to IMMEADIATELY move up, but won’t tell GGG the same thing is not fair. Personally, I firmly believe Ward would box circles around GGG. That’s my opinion. But I’m open to debate about fairness.
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