By Allan Fox: After noticing how much problems Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) gave middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) with his boxing ability in their fight on March 18, trainer Freddie Roach says he’s changed his mind about Triple G being able to move up to light heavyweight to take on and beat champion Andre “SOG” Ward.
Roach now believes that Ward would beat Golovkin. Roach notes that Golovkin had problems with the 30-year-old Jacobs when he switched to the southpaw stance during their fight on HBO PPV. Roach thinks it might be a problem for Golovkin if he takes the fight with Ward. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler said last week that Ward is an option for him when he moves up in weight to the 168lb division. Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter really wants the fight with Golovkin, and is saying that they’ll move down from 175 to fight Golovkin at 168 if he moves up in weight next year.
“He’s still one of the best fighters in the world today,” said Roach to secondsout.com about Golovkin. “I thought at one time that he could move up to light heavyweight and beat Ward. Ward is a very good boxer, maybe a better boxer than Triple G’s last [opponent] is. I changed my mind on that one a little bit now because he was exposed,” said Roach.
Golovkin would be a real problem for Ward on the inside. If you saw the short punches that Golovkin was throwing while being held by Jacobs and Kell Brook, he looked more than capable of giving Ward a lot of problems with his short punching ability. I think Golovkin might be a better inside fighter than Ward. It might be a big mistake if Ward tried to turn a fight against Golovkin into a 12 round grappling contest like we saw in his fight against Kovalev. Golovkin and light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev would be a real nightmare for Ward on the inside. Beterbiev would especially be dangerous because he’s able to throw short shots with devastating power while being held. I’m not sure how Beterbiev is able to do this. He’s just very strong and doesn’t require a lot of leverage on his punches the way normal fighters do.
We could find out in 2018 if Ward has the boxing skills and talent to beat Golovkin if GGG moves up in weight to super middleweight. It’s a given that Golovkin will be moving up after this year, because he’s only got 1-2 fights left at middleweight. He wants the Saul Canelo Alvarez fight, and he also is hoping to capture the WBO middleweight title. Golovkin may need to move up without winning the WBO title, because he might lose out on his chance to capture that belt if he fights Canelo next rather than Billy Joe Saunders.
Ward would still have a lot of problems with Golovkin’s offensive skills and punching power. We saw in Ward’s fight with Sergey Kovalev last November that he doesn’t possess much in the way off offensive skills at this point in his career. Ward was no match for Kovalev on offense. The only thing Ward could do was grab Kovalev and wrestle with him. Ward still barely won a narrow and very controversial 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 114-113 x3. If that’s all Ward can do against Golovkin is grab him and maul for 12 rounds, then it’s a fight that could go either way. Golovkin seems to be a better inside fighter than Kovalev. With trainer Abel Sanchez teaching Golovkin a fighting style similar to Julio Cesar Chavez, he’s well equipped to fight on the inside against Ward if that’s how he wants to fight him. If it becomes a normal outside fight, then Golovkin would have a clear advantage because he’s a better puncher than Ward. I think Roach is selling Golovkin short by assuming that he would have problems in two consecutive fights against a boxer.
Jacobs really didn’t do much in the fight against Golovkin other than landing some shots in the second half of the fight. Golovkin let the fight be competitive by not being aggressive and letting his hands go the way he needed to.
“He does have trouble against people that box, but what about Canelo,” said Roach. “Canelo is not a boxer though. He’s a puncher. Triple G is too big and strong for him, and I think Triple G might get to him sooner than he’ll get to him. I don’t think he’s [Golovkin] going to go up and fight any good boxers now because he got exposed a little bit. The boxer [Jacobs] fighting from the southpaw stance did give him a little bit of trouble,” said Roach.
The difference between Canelo and Ward for Golovkin is that he would have someone that would definitely fight him if he faces Canelo. He would stand and fight with him. With Ward, there would be the potential of the match winding up as a grueling, mauling grappling contest with Ward choosing to hold for 12 rounds. A good referee would stop that and force the fight to be actual boxing match, but getting someone good to work the fight might prove difficult.
“If he moves up in weight, we’ll fight him there,” said Hunter to Dontae’s Boxing Nation about Golovkin moving to 168. “We have unfinished business at light heavyweight. I don’t know if we’ll go back down, but he’s not a light heavyweight. He’s still a middleweight. We’ll move back down. There shouldn’t be any reason now why he wouldn’t fight us. He should have a real good reason. I don’t think he can use those excuses again after we finish with Kovalev and decide to move back down. Of course, he can make 168 if the money’s right,” said Hunter about Ward. “Most definitely, he’s still a super middleweight,” said Hunter.
Ward has a rematch with Kovalev that is supposed to happen on June 17. Ward might need to win that fight without controversy for there to be any point in Golovkin fighting him. If Ward loses to Kovalev, he might want to stay at light heavyweight to see if he can avenge the loss in a third fight between them. A fight between Ward and Golovkin wouldn’t make sense unless Ward was able to beat Kovalev without controversy. Right now, Ward is seen by many boxing fans as having been given a gift decision over Kovalev. They think he lost the fight. The rematch is all about Ward needing to prove that he can beat him in a clear manner this time.
Golovkin isn’t going to have many big names for him to fight when he moves up to 168. Ward would still be the best option or him even if he’s coming off of a loss to Kovalev. I think the boxing public would still like to see how Golovkin would do against Ward.