Golovkin’s trainer says it’s NOT time to move up

By Boxing News - 10/17/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather Jr. all believe that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) should move up in weight to 168 and 175 to campaign in those weight classes to find better opposition for him to fight. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez doesn’t agree with them, as he feels that Golovkin is a small middleweight who is comfortably making the 160 pound limit for the division.

As far as Sanchez is concerned, Golovkin has unfinished business at middleweight with him still needing to face Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Whether all or some of those fights ever take place is the big question.

Perhaps they never will. Sanchez doesn’t see there being any point in Golovkin moving up to super middleweight or to light heavyweight, because there’s only Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev to fight up there. The 168lb division is barren in terms of big names, so Golovkin doesn’t gain anything in moving to that division.

If Golovkin fights Kovalev or Ward, he’d be fighting the very best fighters in the sport. Sanchez doesn’t see why Golovkin should do that when Hopkins and Jones didn’t have to face anyone close to that good when they both moved up to 175 years ago. Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight to fight Antonio Tarver, a fighter that had already been beaten three times and exposed in the past.

Jones moved up to fight at light heavyweight against 41-year-old former 154lb champion Mike McCallum, who was at the very end of his career and fighting three divisions above his normal fighting weight. Sanchez feels that Hopkins and Jones didn’t have to face the type of opposition that they’re asking Golovkin to fight in Ward and Kovalev. Hopkins was beaten by Kovalev by a lopsided 12 round decision two years ago in 2014, and he hasn’t fought since. That fight took place eight years after Hopkins moved up to light heavyweight.

Sanchez said this to fighthype.com about Golovkin, Hopkins and Jones:

“I don’t understand why people are saying that really,” said Sanchez about some boxing fans and ex-fighters saying that Golovkin should move up in weight to 168 and 175 in order to find fights. “He [Golovkin] still has unfinished business at 160. He’s a small middleweight. All his weights are usually a pound or a pound and a half under the 160 pound limit. He’s never struggling. Kell Brook weighed more 30 days before, seven days before, three days before, and after the fight. So I don’t know why they’re saying that, and they’re saying he should move up to fight whom? They’re asking him to fight the winner of [Sergey] Kovalev and [Andre] Ward. I believe two guys that said that was Bernard [Hopkins] and Roy Jones. When Bernard moved up to fight at 175, he had just got soundly beaten by Jermaine Taylor two fights in a row. So he had nowhere to go. He was 40-years-old and he had nowhere to go. So he moved up to 175. When he moved up to 175, he fought a guy Antonio Tarver, who had three losses already. He had three losses on his record, and that’s who he [Hopkins] moved up to fight. And he’s asking Golovkin to fight the winner of Kovalev-Ward, which I think in everybody’s opinion will be the No.1 fighter in the world undefeated. The other guy that’s asking him to move up is Roy Jones. Roy Jones was a great 160 pound champion. He fought a couple of times at 168, and then wound up at 175. He moved up to 175 like he’s asking Golovkin to move up. But you know who he fought at 175? Mike McCallum. Mike McCallum who was 41-years-old, and eight years prior to that had been the 154lb champion, junior middleweight. He [Jones] beats him. One fight later, McCallum retires at 41-years-old. So did Roy Jones move up to fight to 175 pounds? No, he fought a guy that’s a 154 pounder. So these guys are hypocrites when they say these things, because they’re asking Golovkin to move up to fight the No.1 fighter in the world. If Kovalev happens to win, a guy that everybody thinks is the ‘Krusher,’ and if Andre happens to win, Andre in the Super Six looked like a million dollars, if he beats Kovalev, he’s right back on top. So it makes no sense to me. It’s hypocritical to me when people say [Golovkin should move up], and it’s guys that should know better,” said Sanchez.

Some boxing fans believe that Hopkins, who works for Golden Boy Promotions, is looking to steer Golovkin away from Golden Boy fighter Saul Canelo Alvarez. By suggesting that Golovkin should move up to light heavyweight, it moves him farther away from Canelo, and makes him less of a threat to him. By Golovkin fighting at 175, it’ll make it harder for him to move back down to 160 to fight – and beat – the valuable Golden Boy fighter Canelo Alvarez.

Additionally, if Golovkin is forced to come down from 175 to fight Canelo at 160, or whatever catchweight handicap Canelo insists upon having, it gives Canelo and Golden Boy a potential excuse to use if he loses to Golovkin. They can say that Canelo lost to a light heavyweight rather than a middleweight in Golovkin. It’s a win-win situation for Golden Boy and Canelo if Golovkin moves up to light heavyweight and then has to come down in weight to fight the Mexican star. However, more than likely, if Golovkin moves up to 175 and gets comfortable at that weight, it’ll be too hard for him to drop 15 pounds to come back own to 160 for a fight against Canelo. So we would probably never see a fight between Canelo and Golovkin if that happens.

That’s good news for Canelo and Golden Boy, because Golovkin would be out of their hair, and there would no risk of him beating the Mexican star. This is what some fans believe is the reason behind Hopkins suggesting that Golovkin to move up to 175. Once Golovkin is at 175, he’s out of the picture for Canelo, who will then be able to rule the 160lb division without the Golovkin threat being there for him, and he can make lots of money for Golden Boy for a long, long time.

With Golovkin moving up to 175, Canelo could then say that Golovkin ducked him by moving up in weight to light heavyweight rather than staying at middleweight to wait for an eventual fight between them in the future.

It’s hard to know why Jones wants Golovkin to move up in weight. There’s only Ward and Kovalev at 175 for Golovkin to fight. He can’t fight WBC champion Adonis Stevenson, who fights on Showtime. That’s a fight that can never happen. If Golovkin moved up to 175, he’d be giving away 20 pounds to Kovalev, Ward and the other fighters in the division. There’d be no money fights other than with those two fighters for Golovkin, and he’d be dramatically outweighed for every fight. Jones moved up in weight to light heavyweight for some unknown reason. Jones’ career probably would have been better off if he’d stayed at middleweight. It’s too bad he moved up, because there could have been some great fights for Jones if he’d stayed at 160.

Mayweather wants Golovkin to move up in weight to 168 to fight his own fighter Badou Jack. Obviously, it would be a move that would help Mayweather if Golovkin fought Jack, because he needs a name on his resume to help make him a bigger draw.

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