Roach: Golovkin must beat Ward to become #1 fighter

By Boxing News - 07/06/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t believe that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin can be the guy that takes the baton from Floyd Mayweather Jr. to carry the sport of boxing on his back as the No.1 star. The main reason why Roach doubts that Golovkin can be the guy to take the reins from Mayweather is due to his lack of competition at middleweight.

There aren’t enough names for Golovkin to fight in the 160lb division for him to become a huge super star and the top pound-for-pound fighter. Roach thinks Golovkin needs to move up in weight to fight light heavyweight Andre Ward. He thinks that would be a good fight for Golovkin to prove himself as the top fighter in boxing.

Roach didn’t mention Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but it would seem likely that he doesn’t rate him as good enough fighter to turn Golovkin into a star after he beats him. Canelo has already been beaten by Mayweather and arguably beaten by Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara as well.

“I think Triple G could have if he had more opponents, but I don’t think there are any opponents [at middleweight willing to fight him] at this point,” said Roach to Fighthub.com when asked if Golovkin can take over for Mayweather. “Maybe [fight] Andre Ward; that would be an excellent fight for Triple G. That’s what he’s going to have to do to become the best fighter pound-for-pound in this era. That’s a tough task because he’s [Ward] a good boxer. He’s a little bit boring, but he’s a good boxer. He’s like Floyd a little bit. Floyd wasn’t always boring. When he first came out of the amateurs, he was a fun fighter to watch. He was a very talented guy. By the time he fought Manny [Pacquiao], he was a little bit too defensive,” said Roach

If Golovkin moves up in weight and beat Ward at light heavyweight, he would be expected to stay there and fight Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson and Artur Beterbiev. Those would be three very tough fights for Golovkin to take on top of the Ward fight. Golovkin would be giving away weight and height for each fight, and his power likely would be no better than those guys.

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When asked if Golovkin could beat Mayweather, Roach said, “Floyd out-boxes him. He’s never been knocked out by a professional fighter yet. What makes this guy [Golovkin] any different? I know he’s a good puncher, but I’m sure Floyd has fought a lot of good punchers in his lifetime from the amateurs to the pros. Not too many guys hurt him, so I would pick Floyd to win the fight,” said Roach.

I don’t agree that Mayweather beats Golovkin. That’s fantasy stuff by Roach. We saw how much of a problem that Marcos Maidana was for Mayweather in their two fights, and Golovkin is a much bigger puncher than Maidana. If Mayweather didn’t get knocked out by Golovkin, I think it would be a miracle. Mayweather would have to run for 12 rounds to keep from stopping by GGG, and the crowd would boo out of the ring. It’s best that Mayweather not take the fight because he would be made to look bad either way. The only way I could see Mayweather beating Golovkin would be under highly controversial circumstances.