By Tim Fletcher: Gennady Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler says that a fight between Golovkin and Andre Ward is possible in the future under the right circumstances. Loeffler says that if Ward beats unbeaten Sullivan Barrera and IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, and if Golovkin beats WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, then he sees Ward-Golovkin fight possible.
The only prove is Ward will need to jump through some major hoops to get the fight against Golovkin, and it might be too much to ask for him to beat both Barrera and Kovalev. Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) would also need to do his part to make the Ward fight happen by defeating Canelo. I don’t know that Golovkin will ever get a fight against Canelo.
“Andre has pretty much moved on. He’s in the 175lb division right now,” Loeffler said to Fighthype. “He fought at 172 in his last fight. He’s committed now to fight Sullivan Barrera, who also is trained by Abel [Sanchez], who is undefeated and is pretty much at the same level where [Dominic] Wade is at. That’s going to be a test for Andre. Somebody asked me what happens if Ward beats Kovalev. Andre’s back at the top where he was before. When Andre’s name keeps coming up. The only criticism that Abel had or anyone in the team, was never his skills or what he can do in the ring. He proved that in the Super Six. The only problem was his inactivity. He had the lawsuit with Dan Goosen, and he had the injuries. They came back and fought at 172 [against Paul Smith]. Now the priority for Gennady is to unify the middleweight division. But if he [Ward] beats Sullivan Barrera and he beats Kovalev, all of a sudden Andre’s at the top. If Gennady beats Canelo, all of a sudden you’ve got a mega-fight. Now, even though it’s 15 pounds away from each other, you’ve got two fighters of that caliber, at that point it becomes more reasonable. If Gennady ever fights outside of his weight division, it’s got to be a big fight. That’s what we were talking about with the Froch fight. If he’s [Golovkin] going to take a risk and move up in weight, he’s got to be compensated for that,” Loeffler said.
It’s not likely that Loeffler would give Golovkin the green light to fight at light heavyweight against Ward, especially if he defeats both Kovalev and Barrera. It’s more likely that Loeffler is name dropping Ward’s name to get more attention to Golovkin, because he’s got a fight on April 23 against Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs), and few boxing fans are taking interest in that fight. By Loeffler putting it out there that Golovkin could fight Ward in the future, it helps attract fans to Golovkin’s fight against Wade. If they think that there’s a chance that we could soon be seeing Golovkin vs. Ward, more boxing fans will tune in to see their fights.
Golovkin had a chance to fight Ward in 2015, but he chose not to take that fight. I doubt that anything will change in that regard in 2017 and beyond. I don’t think he wants the Ward fight, and I frankly don’t blame him one bit. It’s a bad style match-up for Golokvin. Ward is taller at 6’0″, heavier by at least 15 pounds, and a much better boxer. Ward would only need to stay on the outside and use his reach all night long in order to win a decision. It’s an easier job for Ward than it would be for Golovkin. It might be a fight if Golovkin chooses to box, but if he tries to slug against Ward, he’ll get picked apart.
A fight between Golovkin and Ward is something that can only take place after Golovkin unifies all the titles. Loeffler is clear about this. The main priority for Golovkin right now is to try and unify all of the titles in the 160lb division. If he can accomplish that, then he might go and look to conquer fighters in the 168lb division. Golovkin obviously wouldn’t move up to the 175lb division for a fight against Ward. The only way I see that fight happening is if Ward moves down to 168 to fight Golovkin. I wouldn’t be surprised if Loeffler asked for a rehydration clause to keep Ward from rehydrating into the 180s or 190s.
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