BoxRec

http://www.boxingnews24.com/2016/08/loe ... kin-brook/

If former super middleweight champion Carl Froch is tired of yapping on the sidelines about boxing, he’s got a big money match against unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) waiting for him. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler says he’s open to making a fight between Golovkin and the 39-year-old Froch after the Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs) fight next month on September 10.

Loeffler says that he’d be willing to match Golovkin against either Froch or Chris Eubank Jr. if everything goes right with the Brook fight next month at the O2 Arena in London, England.

“We’d be open to the Carl Froch fight too,” said Loeffler to IFL TV. “When you see Carl, tell him if everything goes the right way with Brook, we’d be open for that fight,” said Loeffler.

https://youtu.be/Y5EKbH5wq-I

This could be Froch's chance to fight at Las Vegas.

Gennady Golovkin has never competed in Las Vegas before and given HBO’s reduced budget and GGG’s history of low PPV buys, this bout would almost certainly have to take place in the UK, considering Froch is not a big name in the US.

That being said, Loeffler’s comments about a potential Froch fight are nothing but a publicity stunt to gain attention from the media, which is a ploy adopted by most promoters.

GGG’s team need to learn to refrain from calling out smaller or retired fighters, because it runs the risk of tarnishing their reputation.

On a related note (based on viewing the video), it seems that HBO’s reduced budget has motivated K2 to venture to the UK to seek big paydays for GGG, so we could see Golovkin face the likes of Smith, DeGale or Eubank Jr. after he’s competed in the Brook mismatch, which I’d be really excited to see happen.

I wonder if Golovkin’s seemingly recent desire to compete on British shores, as orchestrated by K2, is a precursor for him to leave HBO? We’ve just seen Bob Arum making a similar move with Pacquiao.

Boxing is more popular in the UK than it is in the US and is pretty lucrative also, so I’d like to see GGG be based in the UK on a permanent basis.

What weight? Froch wanted 172 before he retired. Now he will probably want 175-180.

Never gonna happen.

Enlightened-One wrote: On a related note (based on viewing the video), it seems that HBO’s reduced budget has motivated K2 to venture to the UK to seek big paydays for GGG, so we could see Golovkin face the likes of Smith, DeGale or Eubank Jr. after he’s competed in the Brook mismatch, which I’d be really excited to see happen.

I wonder if Golovkin’s seemingly recent desire to compete on British shores, as orchestrated by K2, is a precursor for him to leave HBO? We’ve just seen Bob Arum making a similar move with Pacquiao.

Boxing is more popular in the UK than it is in the US and is pretty lucrative also, so I’d like to see GGG be based in the UK on a permanent basis.

I think he would do well in the UK as well, he will grow a bigger fan base after the Brook fight regardless. There's a number of Middleweight and Super Middleweights he could go up against from the UK.

Chris Eubank Jr. - PPV worthy
Billy Joe Saunders - PPV worthy
Andy Lee - was meant to fight a year ago
James DeGale - PPV worthy
George Groves - Good numbers for Sky Sports
Callum Smith - Good numbers for Sky Sports

Ruthless-RKO wrote:I think he would do well in the UK as well, he will grow a bigger fan base after the Brook fight regardless. There's a number of Middleweight and Super Middleweights he could go up against from the UK.

Chris Eubank Jr. - PPV worthy
Billy Joe Saunders - PPV worthy
Andy Lee - was meant to fight a year ago
James DeGale - PPV worthy
George Groves - Good numbers for Sky Sports
Callum Smith - Good numbers for Sky Sports

Excellent post! I endorse every single one of those bouts.

Stuarty30 wrote:Never gonna happen.

Nuff said

Enlightened-One wrote:

Ruthless-RKO wrote:I think he would do well in the UK as well, he will grow a bigger fan base after the Brook fight regardless. There's a number of Middleweight and Super Middleweights he could go up against from the UK.

Chris Eubank Jr. - PPV worthy
Billy Joe Saunders - PPV worthy
Andy Lee - was meant to fight a year ago
James DeGale - PPV worthy
George Groves - Good numbers for Sky Sports
Callum Smith - Good numbers for Sky Sports

Excellent post! I endorse every single one of those bouts.

Me too. I would love to see ggg v regale

boxing_rocks wrote:What weight? Froch wanted 172 before he retired. Now he will probably want 175-180.

A bit like Golovkin wanting Ward at 164.

lefty wrote:

boxing_rocks wrote:What weight? Froch wanted 172 before he retired. Now he will probably want 175-180.

A bit like Golovkin wanting Ward at 164.

Nonsence.

boxing_rocks wrote:

lefty wrote:A bit like Golovkin wanting Ward at 164.

Nonsence.

I really don't know why people are disputing Golovkin's 164lb stipulation to face Ward when you can actually observe with your own eyes his team making those requests.

Skip to the 7 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgh-lkgDpYg
Skip to the 6 minute 54 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXZlSTDHcXA

"Golovkin's Coach: Andre Ward Must Go to 164 or No Fight":
http://www.BS.com/golovkins-co ... ght--93850
"We don't need Ward. Golovkin doesn't need Ward. Dawson needed Ward. The fact that he made Dawson come down to 168 kind of irks me. When [Golovkin's promoter] Tom [Loeffler] said 50-50, and me and Tom talked about it, he meant 50-50 all the way across. That was the reason why I said 50-50 and 50-50 means 164 - right in the middle. If they want the fight, come to what Golovkin is aking for," Abel Sanchez told BS.com.

"I don't think Ward should have a problem making 164. He talked about fighting Mayweather at 160. Why is he talking about fighting Mayweather at 160 if he's not willing to fight Gennady at 164?"

"If they thought that it was in their best interest to fight Gennady at 164, then fight him - or else they can go about their way. For us, Golovkin is the A-fighter in this situation and I don't care what anybody says. It's not like Golovkin is asking him to come down to 160, like [Golovkin] was going to do for Mayweather and go to 154. We're asking him to meet us halfway. If he doesn't want to, that's okay - we'll just go on to the next one."

And if Ward holds the line at 168?

"Then tell Ward to go somewhere else. We don't need Ward. That would be my response to Tom, if Tom came to me with that," Sanchez said.

"What it will take to make Ward-Golovkin":
http://www.espn.com/blog/dan-rafael/pos ... ard-vs-ggg
“GGG is now clearly the ‘A’ side yet Ward still would want to dictate terms, which makes no sense,” Loeffler said. “GGG would fight Ward on a 50-50 basis, the best 160-pounder versus the best 168-pounder [at] 164 [and] a 50-50 split on all proceeds. But it seems like Ward needs more tuneup fights.”

"Dougie's Friday mailbag":
http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/3945 ... ailbag-216
Doug Fischer stated the following:

"I did ask Loeffler about the supposed catch-weight “offer” to Team Ward... Loeffler said he had an email conversation with Dan Rafael, who asked him what it would take to make a GGG-Ward match, and he proposed the 164-pound catchweight and 50-50 money split as a possibility..."

Here’s another video of Golovkin demanding a 164lb catch-weight stipulation to face Ward.

Skip to the 4 minutes and 45 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXxX88xRpfg

“He [Ward] wants 50-50. He wants the fight with me. Absolutely, I’m ready. Right now, he’s not boxed for two years. His situation is not perfect for the fight. I think my situation is much better. Get in a fight, 50-50 money [and] 50-50 weight.”

boxing_rocks wrote:

lefty wrote:A bit like Golovkin wanting Ward at 164.

Nonsence.

@boxing_rocks - Do you care to comment on my evidence that contradicts your "Nonsence" claim?

Golovkins camp are full of BS to a large extent. Yes, most opponents haven't got the balls to fight him but they said they wouldn't fight Canelo at 155, it would have to be at 160 for the middleweight title which is fair enough. Golovkin and his team say repeatedly that it's the belts- that he wants to have all the belts at 160. So Canelo drops the WBC belt and they were still chasing him (I thought it was the belts you wanted?). Canelo then says he'll fight Golovkin but at 155 which doesnt seem that unreasonable when you consider that GGG has said he would go to 154 to fight Mayweather and it would no longer bs for the Middleweight title unless they agreed upon that as part of the contract.

So he'd go to 154 for Mayweather but not 155 for Canelo, he'd go to 168 for Froch, Degale, Ramirez, etc, but it would have to be 164 for Ward.

There's some hypocrisy at work there.

[quote="lefty]
So he'd go to 154 for Mayweather but not 155 for Canelo, he'd go to 168 for Froch, Degale, Ramirez, etc, but it would have to be 164 for Ward.

There's some hypocrisy at work there.[/quote]
He'd be a drained as fornicate ghost of himself for Floyd at 154 but but he's still be bigger after the weigh in, and he'd pocket a nice wedge for that: career ending money.

He could see Froch was old and at the end, a guy who was never hard to hit, and a guy with a huge following. Plenty of $$$$ and while I would have like to have seen it, you can take nothing away from Carl for retiring rather than adding a lot more miles on the clock with the hardest bastard out there: Froch faced EVERYBODY. He retires when he wants. That's it.

The 164 catch weight is a straight up duck. Ward is never going to do that. He'll go up to fight guys like Froch and Chavez (both big lads) but not for Ward? It shows you he expects to lose. I'm sure GGG didn't personally ask for the catch weight, but it's pretty gay none the less

I haven't heard him talking about going to 168 for degale and Ramirez. Where did he say that? I'm sure James would jump at that

164 is right between the divisions; is it really so 'gay'?

lefty wrote:Golovkins camp are full of BS to a large extent. Yes, most opponents haven't got the balls to fight him but they said they wouldn't fight Canelo at 155, it would have to be at 160 for the middleweight title which is fair enough. Golovkin and his team say repeatedly that it's the belts- that he wants to have all the belts at 160. So Canelo drops the WBC belt and they were still chasing him (I thought it was the belts you wanted?). Canelo then says he'll fight Golovkin but at 155 which doesnt seem that unreasonable when you consider that GGG has said he would go to 154 to fight Mayweather and it would no longer bs for the Middleweight title unless they agreed upon that as part of the contract.

So he'd go to 154 for Mayweather but not 155 for Canelo, he'd go to 168 for Froch, Degale, Ramirez, etc, but it would have to be 164 for Ward.

There's some hypocrisy at work there.

Canelo isn't a big enough star to justify GGG going down in weight for him. I'm glad GGG never fought Ward personally. Ward would probably win, and I'd f*cking hate it. So I'd just assume never see it. It's a bummer we didn't get GGG vs Froch, but GGG vs Degale or Ramirez would be fun. He'd kick Degale's ass. I'm still not quite sure about how good Ramirez is, but his height and reach would be a problem for Golovkin.

crusader wrote:164 is right between the divisions; is it really so 'gay'?

And GGG can call the shots to Ward like that because he's the bigger star. Ward thinks he is, but there's a hell of a lot more talk and focus on GGG than there is Ward.

Thing is that GGG and Canelo are now pretty much the same size. Ward is clearly a bigger man than GGG though, and GGG would be disadvantaged if he moved above his natural division to fight Ward in his. In my view meeting in the middle is a fair offer, not a 'duck' move from someone who has only weighed above 160 twice in 35 fights, and never weighed above 161.

gilgamesh wrote:

crusader wrote:164 is right between the divisions; is it really so 'gay'?

And GGG can call the shots to Ward like that because he's the bigger star. Ward thinks he is, but there's a hell of a lot more talk and focus on GGG than there is Ward.

You say that but Golovkin's PPV numbers were still pretty weak. I don't think he's as big a star as he's made out to be. Yes he is in terms of people talking about him but it doesn't convert into ppv buys.

crusader wrote:Thing is that GGG and Canelo are now pretty much the same size. Ward is clearly a bigger man than GGG though, and GGG would be disadvantaged if he moved above his natural division to fight Ward in his. In my view meeting in the middle is a fair offer, not a 'duck' move from someone who has only weighed above 160 twice in 35 fights, and never weighed above 161.

Well Golovkin fought at 165 in the amateurs so he can do it. Regarding Ward being the bigger man, that's true but so are Froch and Ramirez. The latter definietly so.

Also Ward has gone up to 175 and is fighting Kovalev who imo is a naturally bigger man. Ward looks like a blown up super middleweight. Kovalev is huge in terms of his frame. Look at his fight with Hopkins. He clearly looked the bigger man in that fight.

lefty wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:

crusader wrote:164 is right between the divisions; is it really so 'gay'?

And GGG can call the shots to Ward like that because he's the bigger star. Ward thinks he is, but there's a hell of a lot more talk and focus on GGG than there is Ward.

You say that but Golovkin's PPV numbers were still pretty weak. I don't think he's as big a star as he's made out to be. Yes he is in terms of people talking about him but it doesn't convert into ppv buys.

Because he was fighting David Lemieux. Only major fights sell on PPV anymore. Fights where 99 out of 100 people are dead certain who's gonna win just ain't flying like it used to. I wish fans would've woken up to that trend and shut that sh*t down a lot sooner than they did. 1 Star fighter in a showcase is not and never will be worth PPV money.

Frankly with the prices on the cards these days. Nothing is worth PPV money. Even if you put all 5 of the best fights people want to see on the same card it's still not worth it. Once Boxing PPV's hit 60 dollars I vowed to never buy another one, and I never will.

gilgamesh wrote:

lefty wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:
And GGG can call the shots to Ward like that because he's the bigger star. Ward thinks he is, but there's a hell of a lot more talk and focus on GGG than there is Ward.

You say that but Golovkin's PPV numbers were still pretty weak. I don't think he's as big a star as he's made out to be. Yes he is in terms of people talking about him but it doesn't convert into ppv buys.

Because he was fighting David Lemieux. Only major fights sell on PPV anymore. Fights where 99 out of 100 people are dead certain who's gonna win just ain't flying like it used to. I wish fans would've woken up to that trend and shut that sh*t down a lot sooner than they did. 1 Star fighter in a showcase is not and never will be worth PPV money.

Frankly with the prices on the cards these days. Nothing is worth PPV money. Even if you put all 5 of the best fights people want to see on the same card it's still not worth it. Once Boxing PPV's hit 60 dollars I vowed to never buy another one, and I never will.

True but Mayweather still got 600k ppv buys fighting Berto lol.

Be interesting to see how many Canelo does fighting Liam Smith who is virtually unknown in the US bar hardcore boxing fans and to my knowledge has never even fought on US television before. At least Lemieux had been on HBO a number of times.

lefty wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:

lefty wrote: You say that but Golovkin's PPV numbers were still pretty weak. I don't think he's as big a star as he's made out to be. Yes he is in terms of people talking about him but it doesn't convert into ppv buys.

Because he was fighting David Lemieux. Only major fights sell on PPV anymore. Fights where 99 out of 100 people are dead certain who's gonna win just ain't flying like it used to. I wish fans would've woken up to that trend and shut that sh*t down a lot sooner than they did. 1 Star fighter in a showcase is not and never will be worth PPV money.

Frankly with the prices on the cards these days. Nothing is worth PPV money. Even if you put all 5 of the best fights people want to see on the same card it's still not worth it. Once Boxing PPV's hit 60 dollars I vowed to never buy another one, and I never will.

True but Mayweather still got 600k ppv buys fighting Berto lol.

How Mayweather ever became a PPV attraction at all is beyond me. Casual fight fans are all about knockouts and action. Floyd rarely provides either, but he somehow became the biggest PPV star in the sports history

Beats the hell out of me how he pulled that sh*t off.

gilgamesh wrote:

lefty wrote:

gilgamesh wrote:
Because he was fighting David Lemieux. Only major fights sell on PPV anymore. Fights where 99 out of 100 people are dead certain who's gonna win just ain't flying like it used to. I wish fans would've woken up to that trend and shut that sh*t down a lot sooner than they did. 1 Star fighter in a showcase is not and never will be worth PPV money.

Frankly with the prices on the cards these days. Nothing is worth PPV money. Even if you put all 5 of the best fights people want to see on the same card it's still not worth it. Once Boxing PPV's hit 60 dollars I vowed to never buy another one, and I never will.

True but Mayweather still got 600k ppv buys fighting Berto lol.

How Mayweather ever became a PPV attraction at all is beyond me. Casual fight fans are all about knockouts and action. Floyd rarely provides either, but he somehow became the biggest PPV star in the sports history

Beats the hell out of me how he pulled that sh*t off.

It's because of his dickhead persona (well i think that's him but you get my drift lol) that and the fact he was unbeaten.

People say 'look GGG fought at 165 in the amateurs' (Ward ended his amateur career at 178), but that division spans all the way down to 152, so if GGG were to fight a division lower he would've been creeping toward welterweight. After over a decade as a pro and 35 fights, GGG has never been more than a pound above 160, and it seems very clear that MW is his best weight.

Given that he's not even big for 160, I think it's reasonable to call for Ward to meet him in the middle. Sure, maybe GGG was willing to fight guys like Froch and Ramirez at 168, but Ward is at another level, and I can understand why GGG's side believes that compromise is more important in this case. It doesn't mean that GGG thinks he'll lose to Ward anymore than it means that GGG is confident of winning, but cognizant of the challenge and therefore wanting balanced conditions. In the case of Canelo-GGG you don't have one guy moving up to face a bigger man, so I don't think Canelo has the same argument in his favor when he calls for a CW.

Incidentally, I thought Ward and Kovalev looked pretty much the same size, and Ward doesn't look appear to be a small LHW to me.