Ward: Froch should fight Golovkin

By Boxing News - 11/16/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Former super middleweight champion Carl Froch said earlier on Wednesday that he thinks unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin should move up two weight classes to fight light heavyweight Andre Ward at a catchweight of 172 pounds in order to give him a credible opponent to fight.

Froch doesn’t think Golovkin has been fighting credible opponents despite the fact that he’s 36-0 and has defended his middleweight titles countless times. Ward has other ideas though. He wants to see Froch fight Golovkin. If Froch wasn’t willing to fight Golovkin two years ago after his second fight with George Groves, it’s not too likely he’ll take the fight now after he’s been out of the ring for two years.

What we don’t want is Froch to be dragged into the ring kicking and screaming for a fight against Golovkin. That would look bad if Froch were reluctant about fighting Golovkin and only took it due to pressure from the boxing fans and/or his promoter. Froch needs to want to take the Golovkin fight like he wanted to fight the likes of George Groves and Yusaf Mack.

Froch had no problems facing those over-matched fighters, but those were mismatches of course. It’s a much different story if Froch were to have to face a talent like Golovkin. There are no guarantees that Froch would finish the fight on his feet or whether he’d be still cogent coming out of the fight. Golovkin hits awfully hard, and the fight could go badly for Froch. I’m just saying.

“I’d like to see Carl Froch fight Gennady Golovkin,” Ward said to skysports.com. “I heard rumors he may be coming out of retirement! I think that ship has sailed [himself fighting Golovkin], that was the point in moving up [to light-heavy]. I pushed hard for that fight, unfortunately it just didn’t happen. I think it would have been a great fight.”

I guess Ward didn’t like the idea of Froch pushing Golovkin on him. It would be a very, very hard fight for Ward to take on Golovkin. Even with his size and weight advantage, Ward would have a lot of problems dealing with Golovkin’s work rate. There’s no question that Ward would have problems with Golovkin, because he wouldn’t stop throwing punches like Ward’s last three opponents, who only rarely threw shots. Golovkin would definitely be a tough nut. I can’t say who would win that fight, probably Ward. it would be a tough fight though.

I don’t think Ward’s suggestion that Froch fight Golovkin is the news that Froch wants to hear, because he doesn’t seem at all interested in coming out of his two-year retirement to fight him. Froch says he’s not going to come out of retirement to fight Golovkin, even though he feels he would be too big for him. It looks like Froch prefers that Ward be the one that does the job on Golovkin rather than him getting his hands dirty having to come back and take on the Kazakhstan fighter.

It could prove to be a very messy affair with Froch dealing with huge power shots to the head and body from Golovkin right off the back. Froch couldn’t count on Golovkin backing up against the ropes and just covering up the way that former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute did in his fight against Froch in 2012.

At this point I think it’s pretty well academic that Froch wants no part of fighting Golovkin, ever.

“I am nearly 40-years-old, I’ve been retired for two-and-half years,” said Froch in his column on Wednesday at skysports.com. “I think they should pick on someone else. That fight [Ward vs. Golovkin] would be one of those where they could say ‘now Golovkin is fighting someone credible.’ So if Ward beats Kovalev that is a fight I would love to see,” said Froch about Golovkin vs. Ward.

So there it is. Froch wants nothing to do with fighting Golovkin. Instead of agreeing to fight Golovkin and pick up a HUGE payday of millions, Froch is saying “they should pick on someone else.” Does that sound like someone who fancies the job? I think the last thing Froch wants is to have a lethal knockout artist like Golovkin staring at him from across the ring in front of a huge crowd of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

Most of the boxing fans that fill the stadium would be there to see Froch win. Froch would have the fans’ support overwhelmingly. Unfortunately, I don’t think that would help him, because Golovkin would be looking to take his scalp straightaway. I think it would be a replay of the 5th round of the Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight with Golovkin tearing into Froch like no tomorrow, not letting him have his usual breathing room, and hitting him with shots at every angle you could imagine.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the fight lasted only one round with Froch really getting it. Initially the fans would support Froch, but after seeing how entertaining Golovkin was with his energetic style of fighting, I think the fans would turn to supporting Golovkin rather than Froch. It would be bad for Froch, because the fans would be cheering for Golovkin, and that in turn would fuel his drive to want to finish the job as quickly and neatly as possible. I wish I could say that Froch would see the 12th round, but I don’t think he’d make it out of the 1st round on his feet. I think Golovkin would nail Froch with the same left hook that he smashed Kell Brook’s right eye with in the opening round, and I think he would be staggering from that shot. Once Golovkin has Froch hurt, he’d be quick to finish the job to get him out of there.

I don’t think Ward’s advice for Froch to fight Golovkin was meant in a mean-spirited way. I think he wants Froch to fight Golovkin for entertainment purposes. It’s a great that the boxing fans including him want to see. But it’s also Froch’s best chance for a big payday if/when he comes back to the sport. Who else would Froch fight face if he returned to the ring? I can’t see Froch fighting Sergey Kovalev or Ward. I don’t think Saul Canelo Alvarez would bother facing Froch due to the size mismatch. I guess Froch could fight James DeGale or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. if he wanted, but I don’t think he would have any interest in either of those fights.