By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) won’t be facing former super middleweight champion Carl Froch, because he’s reportedly saying that he’s retired, almost 40, and that he’s too big for him. Froch says he’s not sure how the rumors started about him and Golovkin potentially facing each other, but he has no plans of taking that fight.
Froch says that Golovkin should move up two weight divisions to face former 168lb champion Andre Ward at a catch-weight of 172lbs. Froch feels this would be Golovkin’s first real test of his boxing career. Froch didn’t come out and admit it, but he seems to be implying that he thinks Ward will beat IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 26 KOs) in their fight on Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Why else would Froch be telling Golovkin to fight Ward if he didn’t think he was going to beat Kovalev. I wonder what Froch will say if Kovalev beats Ward?
Froch said this to skysports.com about him not being interested in coming out of retirement to fight the talented Golovkin:
“Honestly, I don’t know why there is all this speculation that I am going to fight Golovkin because I’ve not spoken to Eddie Hearn or Tom Loeffler,” Froch said. “I’ve just seen what everyone else has seen on Twitter and YouTube, but I am amazed they keep bringing my name up. I am nearly 40 years old; I’ve been retired for two-and-a-half years. I just think they should pick on someone else. Here and now, I’d beat Golovkin. I’m too big for him but it’s not happening.”
Well, if Froch can beat Golovkin like he’s blabbering about, then why wouldn’t he make a comeback in order to prove what he’s talking about? With the chance of ending his career with a REAL win over a highly respected fighter with an unbeaten record like Golovkin, why wouldn’t Froch take the fight? I mean, if you had the chance yourself of ending your career with two nothing wins over George Groves, who has since been proven to be nothing special with his loss Badou Jack, or end your career with a win over Golovkin, what would you do?
I think it’s a no-brainer that the Golovkin fight would be a must. Not only would Froch be able to cement his legacy by facing and potentially beating the most respected fighter in the 160lb division, but he’d also be able to get a TREMENDOUS payday in the process. I would imagine that Froch could make as much as $10 million for a fight against Golovkin.
I’m not sure what Froch’s net worth is at this point, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the money he makes from a Golovkin fight would be half of he has in the bank. Why wouldn’t Froch want to add a huge chunk of change to his bank account if he felt he could win the fight like he says he could?
I don’t understand that. It’s alien to me that someone wouldn’t come back for a payday like that if they REALLY felt that they could win. Heck, even if they thought they might lose, how do you not comeback to take that fight against Triple G? I do not understand that. it’s very alien to the way Gilfoid thinks to not want to get back in the gym to take that fight.
I know Froch is yapping about how he thinks he would beat Golovkin, but it makes you wonder whether he actually believes what he says. Does a fighter that fancies his chances against another fighter turn out a huge payday like that if they think they’re going to win? If Froch found millions of dollars on the ground while going for a walk, would he walk past it without picking the money up or what he snatch it and walk on? To me, it’s just so obvious.
Froch should make a comeback if he thinks beating Golovkin is as easy as pie. If it’s easy, then take the fight to PROVE IT to the boxing world. Of course, if Froch is just jabbering without him really believing what he’s saying, then I can understand that. I still wouldn’t understand Froch not at least giving it a college try to beat Golovkin, but I still
“If Golovkin wants to fight the best, I am sure Ward could make that [172] weight,” Froch wrote. “That fight would be one of those where they could say, ‘now Golovkin is fighting someone credible.’ If he wants to talk about being the best, then he needs to fight the best. But I will tell you now, Golovkin will get a shock and he’d get beat by Andre Ward.”
What’s interesting here is that Froch is recommending that a SMALL middleweight in Golovkin move up two entire divisions to fight a light heavyweight in Ward. If I recall, Froch NEVER moved out of his own division to move up to fight Kovalev when there were many boxing fans that were asking him to do so. I mean, if Froch wasn’t setting the example of moving up in weight to fight bigger guys, then why should a small middleweight like Golovkin move up TWO ENTIRE DIVISIONS to fight a light heavyweight?
I’m just saying. You’ve got junior middleweights that rehydrate into the low 170s or their fights in the 154lb division, and that’s what Golovkin weighs after he reyhydrates for his middleweight fights. He comes into the fights at around 170. In other words, Golovkin could be fighting at junior middleweight if he wanted to like many of the guys in that division.
As such, you can make an argument that Golovkin would be moving up three entire divisions to fight Ward if he were to agree to Froch’s advice to fight at 172? Even if Golovkin did move up in weight to light heavyweight, he would still likely be outweighed by Ward by 15 to 20 pounds. Where is the fairness in that? I do not understand? The weight disparity between the two would be so huge that it wouldn’t even be a fight. It would be a circus fight.
Weight divisions are created for a reason. I know full well. I wrestled in high school. In wrestling practice the coach would sometimes put us in with guys that were 15 to 20 pounds lighter. It was too easy. I was body slamming them left and right. It’s the same with boxing. You’ve got to stay in your own divisions if you don’t want to turn the fight into a circus.
If Golovkin did move up to fight Ward at light heavyweight, he would need to bulk up big time in order not to be outweighed by an incredible amount.
In doing so, Golovkin would mess his body up by adding the weight. So when he did come back down to 160, he might have a really hard time doing so like we’ve seen with other fighters in the past. Once you increase your body’s set point in terms of weight, it’s difficult to change it back. As such, Golovkin might end up struggling to go back to the middleweight division to resume destroying all of his opposition.
Golovkin wants a BIG money fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez. That’s the fight that will make Golovkin a ton of money. I hate to say it, but a fight between Golovkin and Ward would be lucky if it were to bring in 200,000 buys on HBO pay-per-view. Honestly, there would be very little interest in that fight other than from the hardcore boxing fans. In contrast, a fight between Golovkin and Canelo will bring in well over 1 million buys, maybe even 2 million buys. Do the math.
Should Golovkin move up to light heavyweight to fight a guy that will bring in maybe 200K buys in Ward or should he stay at middleweight to fight a guy that could bring in possibly 2 million buys under the best case scenario? The bad thing about Golovkin moving up to light heavyweight is the potential of him messing his body up in the process.
It would be sad if Golovkin had to stay at 175 or move down to 168 for the remainder of his boxing career, because he would always be much smaller than his opposition. Further, there are no real names in those divisions. Kovalev isn’t a pay-per-view fighter. He’s also Golovkin’s friend, so they’ll never fight each other. Adonis Stevenson isn’t a pay-per-view fighter and he’s almost 40-years-old. The rest of the guys at 175 have no name and aren’t worth fighting. The 168lb division is barren of names.
Golovkin won’t get anything by beating Badou Jack, Gilberto Ramirez or James DeGale. Ramirez would create the most interest in the U.S for Golovkin, but he’s not a big name yet. It would be a similar situation to how welterweight Manny Pacquiao recently fought Jessie Vargas on pay-per-view. The fight generated only 300,000 buys. That’s a drop off of 100,000 buys from Pacquiao’s last fight against Tim Bradley. Golovkin would gain nothing by fighting at 168 or 175, because there’s no one there for him to fight.