By Scott Gilfoid: Carl Froch isn’t letting go of the idea of him wanting middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) to move up in weight to fight IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) in 2017. In the past, Froch spoke of wanting Golovkin to move up to 168 to fight Ward, which meant Golovkin would move up one weight class to fight him at super middleweight.
Froch now wants Golovkin to move up TWO weight classes to face him at 175. As such, the much smaller Golovkin would be coming up in weight 15 pounds to face a guy with a much larger frame than him in Ward.
At the same time, Golovkin would be going in the opposite direction of his big money mega-fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs), a fighter that could meet up with him on HBO PPV in September on the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend. It would be explosive fight that could bring in well over 1 million PPV buys on HBO. Golovkin vs. Ward would be a fight that might not even bring in 200,000 buys.
Ward’s recent match against former light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) brought in just 160,000 buys on PPV on HBO on November 19. It would seem that Ward, as talented as he is, he’s not a PPV draw like Canelo. It would be a good fight for Golovkin to face Ward, but it wouldn’t likely be a huge seller like Canelo vs. Golovkin.
Froch said this in his column at skysports.com about wanting to see Golovkin move up in weight to face Ward at 175:
”Well it’s not going to be me against Golovkin is it, so I want to see him in with Ward,” said Froch about his desire to see Golovkin fight Ward. Him and his team have said they are the best and will fight anyone, so why not move up to take on Ward. Ward could easily drop back down to super-middleweight but maybe Golovkin should go up to light-heavyweight. Kell Brook stepped up two divisions and he was quite happy about that, so now it’s his turn,” said Froch.
I think Golovkin has the talent, offense, power and the fighting style to beat Ward, even if they fought at cruiserweight. However, the time isn’t right for the Golovkin vs. Ward fight to take place now. Once Golovkin faces Daniel Jacobs on March 18 and then Canelo in September, then potentially it might be time for Golovkin to move up.
Golovkin would still want to win the WBO middleweight title before moving up in weight. If Golovkin-Canelo brings in HUGE PPV numbers on HBO, then you would have to believe there will be a second and maybe even a third and fourth fight between them. If the green stuff is good in each fight, I can definitely see businessman Canelo and his business-minded promoters at Golden Boy facing Golovkin as many times as needed for the loot to keep rolling in.
I think the only way the rivalry will end is when the PPV numbers start dropping off in a major way. That could happen if either of the fighters is knocked out badly in consecutive fights. If Canelo gets knocked out by Golovkin, the fans will still be eager to pay to see a rematch on HBO. Things will change if Canelo gets destroyed a second time. Even Golden Boy likely won’t want to chance a third fight and wind up with Canelo as damaged goods by his beatings at the hands of Golovkin. This fight could age both fighters with the punishment they’re going to take.
“How many middleweights have moved up to at least super-middleweight?” said Froch.” Well they keep calling him [Golovkin] the best, so the all the best have done it and won world titles, as well. People will think I’d want Ward to win because he beat me, but you’ve got to give ‘Triple G’ a real chance. It’s time to step up,” said Froch.
I don’t think Froch would move up in weight if he were in the same shoes as Golovkin. How could he? With the money available to Golovkin fighting Canelo, why would he move up to fight Ward, who just brought in only 160,000 buys against Kovalev on HBO PPV. I wonder if Froch is thinking these things through clearly before he writes them down? It’s a no-brainer for Golovkin to stay at middleweight, because he’s perched in the perfect spot to get the big money fights.
Golovkin can face Canelo, Gilberto Ramirez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., James DeGale, Callum Smith, and even some of the welterweights if any of them want to try their luck against him. We just saw Kell Brook move up in weight from 147 to fight Golovkin last September. It didn’t go Brook’s way, but at least he won some fans over by trying to wn before his trainer Dominic Ingle threw in the towel in round 5.
I like Ward as a fighter, but I also don’t think he’s got much more time left in his career. If things don’t work out well for him in the rematch against Kovalev, or if he faces Artur Beterbiev and gets knocked out, I see Ward retiring. I think Ward is slowing down, and I expect him to get slower with each passing year. He’s not much older than the 31-year-old Beterbiev, who will be turning 32 on January 21, but his loss of speed suggests that age is affecting him more than it is the Russian fighter.
By the time Golovkin does get the urge to move up to 175 to face some of the fighters in that weight class, I see Ward as being long gone. If he still around in two or three years’ time, I think he’ll be a mere shadow of the fighter he is now. Ward is a guy that wins with his speed, mobility, defense and ring IQ. The speed is disappearing for Ward, and his mobility is all but gone at this point, and I don’t see it coming back. Golovkin can move up in weight in three years, but will Ward still be around by then? If Ward is still fighting, I think he’ll have been beaten by Beterbiev or one of the other big punching light heavyweights with youth and natural power on their side.