By Scott Gilfoid: Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin tore into former super middleweight champion Carl Froch today in response to some of his comments he made recently about Triple G needing to step up and fight some “credible” opponents. Golovkin says that Froch is another “clown” who fails to step up. Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler very much would like to fight Froch if they could get him to agree to a match.
The fight would make millions and likely fill the huge 80,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London, England. Unfortunately, the 39-year-old Froch is showing zero interest in fighting the hard hitting GGG. Froch is happy in his 2-year retirement and doesn’t want to come back to resume his boxing career.
Froch said this on his Twitter about Golovkin:
“@TomLoeffler1 @EddieHearn @GGGBoxing @wembleystadium , he needs to fight somebody credible very soon, but as you have been, stay away from 168,” said Froch.
This was Golovkin’s response to Froch’s yapping:
”Hey you! Carl Froch, don’t judge who is credible or not. You are another clown who talks too much without stepping up to actually do things,” said Golovkin on his social media site.
Ouch, that hurts. Golovkin is really tagging Froch with his comments, isn’t he? It’s hard not to agree with Golovkin, because Froch is doing a lot of talking without stepping up to the plate to accept the challenge of fighting Triple G. I don’t know why Froch won’t take the fight. I do know that many of the boxing fans see Froch as not having the courage to fight GGG.
Many of the fans think Froch is scared. No amount of explanations on Froch’s part is likely going to change the minds of these fans. They see the cold reality. Froch could make TONs of cash fighting Golovkin at Wembley Stadium. With Froch not willing to agree to the fight, it gives these fans the impression that he doesn’t fancy his chances. When you see a fighter willing to walk away from millions for a fight against Golovkin, it does make you wonder why they would do that. Is it fear or is Froch simply content with his career defining wins over George Groves? The last time I checked, it’s not a big deal to beat Groves.
Badou Jack did it too. Martin Murray probably would have done it as well if he’d let his hands go. Froch really doesn’t have a career defining win. His wins over Mikkel Kessler and Jermain Taylor happened when both fighters were no longer at their best. Froch’s win over Andre Dirrell in 2009 was a controversial one with many boxing fan thinking that he got a hometown decision. Froch’s win over Arthur Abraham was no big deal, because he’s been beaten by Dirrell, Andre Ward and Gilberto Ramirez. Froch’s win over Lucian Bute was a meaningless win, because Bute has lost to James DeGale and arguably should have lost to Badou Jack.
It’s kind of hard for Golovkin to fight guys that Froch sees as credible when he and other fighters like Saul Canelo Alvarez won’t fight him. Froch could make it easy for Golovkin to fight someone credible if he would come out of retirement to fight him. Froch would have a built in excuse for a loss to Golovkin if he came back.
Froch could blame the loss to him having been out of the sport for two years since his last fight against George Groves in 2014. If the boxing fans don’t buy that excuse, then Froch could tell the fans that he was old, because he’s 39 now, even though he’s not much older than the soon to be 35-year-old Golovkin. Unfortunately, I don’t think that excuse would be believed by the fans either. If Froch comes back and loses to Golovkin by a knockout, I think the fans would assume that Froch would be beaten by him no matter what point in his career he faced him. The fans would see Golovkin as simply the better fighter. With the way that Groves was able to put Froch on the canvas in their first fight in 2013, I think it’s quite probable that Golovkin would KO Froch straightaway if they were to fight.
It’s pretty easy for Golovkin to stay away from super middleweight, because there are absolutely no names for him to fight in that division. What does Froch expects Golovkin to do. Move up to fight little known Badou Jack or James DeGale? Those aren’t big names in the Sates. Maybe they’re big names in England, but they sure as heck aren’t big names in the U.S.
“Hey gentlemen @EddieHearn @TomLoeffler1 without any actual progress please stop rehashing the possibility of this fight over and over,” said Golovkin to his promoter Loeffler and Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn.
Froch suggested today that Golovkin move up to light heavyweight to fight Andre Ward at a catch-weight of 172lbs, even though he would need to move up two entire divisions to take the fight. Why does Froch want a small middleweight like Golovkin to move up two weight classes to fight a light heavyweight like Ward? Yeah, it would create news with boxing fans, but it still wouldn’t be that big of a fight for I to be worth it for Golovkin.
“If Golovkin wants to fight the best, I am sure Ward could make that [172] weight,” Froch said in his column at skysports.com. “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.”
I think Golovkin would have a chance of beating Ward if that fight took place at 172. It would be a tough fight, but I think would give Ward huge problems with his punching power. We don’t know if Ward will beat IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in their fight this Saturday night. This is all premature. Moving up right now to take on Ward wouldn’t be the best move for GGG at this time, because he’s trying to get a big much fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez.
If Golovkin moves up to take that fight for the low money it would offer him, then he could make it tough on himself to try and get back down to 160 for a bigger fight against Canelo. Would Froch make that move of moving up to cruiserweight to fight Oleksandr Usyk if he were fighting still at super middleweight? Froch is asking Golovkin to move up TWO weight divisions, isn’t he? Would Froch have moved up two weight classes to take on Usyk at cruiserweight or would he have said, ‘The heck with that. I’m not going to fight Usyk. I’m staying at 168 so that I can fight Yusaf Mack and George Groves in mismatches.’
I don’t understand why Froch keeps flapping his gums about Golovkin without wanting to step up and take the fight. Froch wants Golovkin to fight someone credible. All Froch needs to do is agree to the Golovkin fight, sign on the dotted line, and get back into the gym. He could then give Golovkin the credible opponent that he’s talking about. It would also give Froch a potential real name to add to his resume, because goodness knows, his resume is lacking in quality opposition. Instead of Froch ending his boxing career with his last two fights coming against Groves, he could end his career with a fight against Golovkin. Which would you rather have? For me, I wouldn’t hesitate to want to end my career with Golovkin on my resume rather than Groves. That’s me though. I would want the best. I wouldn’t want the final name on my resume to be a mere contender. How many times has Groves been beat? Three times? Now compare that with the unbeaten Golovkin.