Golovkin’s trainer dares Andre Ward to have his management make fight offer

By Boxing News - 02/06/2015 - Comments

golovkin000By Dan Ambrose: If WBA Super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) wants a big money fight against WBA 160 pound champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) then all he needs to do is have his management contact Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler to make an offer for a fight, according to Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez.

It’s a fight that Sanchez firmly believes that Golovkin can win, and he’s felt that way for a long time. The question is will Ward make the effort to try and setup the fight against Golovkin?

It’s a fight that would likely take place at a catch-weight below the 168 limit, so Ward would have to be willing to come down in weight a few rounds for the fight to get made.

Golovkin has the power to give Ward problems. Ward likes to fight in close a lot by wrestling his opponents. Golovkin is an excellent inside fighter, and he’s got the power to give Ward fits if he chooses to try and smother Golovkin’s power the way he did with Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler.

Golovkin has a fight scheduled this month against Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) on February 21st at the Salle des Étoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco. Golovkin needs to get past Murray before he can start talking fights against the likes of Ward or Carl Froch at super middleweight.

Golovkin still wants a fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, and a unification fight against the winner of the Andy Lee vs. Peter Quillin fight.

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“Three years ago, I said that nobody from 54 to 68 will go 12 rounds with Gennady, not even Andre Ward would go. Andre Ward’s got to call Tom Loeffler. His people got to call Tom Leoffler; make an offer. Andre Ward is supposedly the A-fighter. He should making an offer,” Sanchez said via Fighthype.

Ward would likely jump at the chance to fight Golovkin if Sanchez is legitimately interested in testing Golovkin against him. But by Sanchez putting the responsibility on Ward and his promoters at Roc Nation Sports, they’re probably going to need to make a fairly substantial offer in order to interest Golovkin and his K2 Promotions management. They’re not likely to accept any plain old offer. It’s going to need to be for big money.

Ward hasn’t fought since November 2013 when he beat Edwin Rodriguez by a one-sided 12 round decision. Ward reportedly is looking for a tune-up fight against a soft opponent due to the long time he’s been out of the ring. This means that Ward, if he’s interested in facing Golovkin, he’ll need to wait until later on this year before he can get a fight against him.

Ward still doesn’t have an opponent scheduled yet for his next fight, and it’s possible that even if they found someone now, they won’t be staging it until the summer unless they want to get someone that they can get into the ring quickly. They’ll need to work with HBO to find a date that’s open for them. Dan Rafael of ESPN is saying that HBO doesn’t have any fight dates open until possibly June. That’s a long time for Ward to wait for his tune-up.



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