Gennady “GGG” Golovkin has a major middleweight unification bout coming up next week vs. David Lemieux, but when it comes to the Kazakh knockout artist, Andre Ward talk is never far away.
Ward, arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world following the retirement of Floyd Mayweather Jr., has long been rumored to be a possible opponent for Golovkin with a chance of actually winning. There are many factors in the way though, most notably, a tug-of-war between the two camps over “A-side” status.
Abel Sanchez "Confident" GGG vs. Lemieux Won't Go The Distance
Ward’s camp argues that he has accomplished much more in boxing, and faced far superior opposition. Golovkin, however, has more entertainment value thanks to his 20-bout knockout streak, and has become enough of a star to be featured in Apple commercials.
Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez said that Ward, known as much for his inactivity as his skill level, must fight more to become “relevant” enough to warrant a Golovkin fight.
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“Andre needs to fight, to fight to be relevant, to fight so that the people don’t forget who he is,” Sanchez said. Ward’s best win was over Carl Froch, in 2011, to win the Super Six super middleweight tournament. Since 2012, Ward has fought just three times.
“Just because he won the Super Six four years ago and he has fought two times in the last three years against nondescript opponents, it doesn’t make him qualified for those kinds of fights.
“So I think that if he starts fighting and becomes relevant, then I’m sure that fight [vs. Golovkin] is down the road.”
In fact, a fight with light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev, another Eastern European knockout artist, might be more likely than a Golovkin clash. In Ward’s return bout from an 18-month layoff he fought Paul Smith at a 172-pound catch weight, a possible precursor to a full-time move to the 175-pound division.
Golovkin, meanwhile, is targeting a middleweight unification bout with the winner of Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez if he can defeat Lemieux on Oct. 17.
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