By Edward Chaykovsky
Abel Sanchez, trainer of WBC/IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs), has fired back at former two division champion Bernard Hopkins, over The Alien's recent comments regarding Golovkin's refusal to move up in weight.
Hopkins called on Golovkin to make a statement by jumping up two weight divisions to fight the winner of November's fight between light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward.
Hopkins' statements are taken with a grain of salt by many fans, because he's an executive with Golden Boy Promotions - who promote Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez - the fighter who ranks at the top of Golovkin's most wanted list.
Canelo vs. Golovkin is being discussed for next September. If the Canelo fight falls through for whatever reason, Hopkins wants Golovkin to move up for the Kovalev-Ward winner.
"I would like for Triple G to make a statement and fight the winner of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev - that's what I want to see. Nobody's talking about that fight or possibility," Hopkins said.
"Can you imagine you've already got a second fight that can happen ... hey, if Triple G and Canelo don't fight, we've got the next thing for you, Triple G can get into a catchweight situation, or even do what Bernard Hopkins did, jump up two weights and fight the winner of Kovalev and Andre Ward."
Sanchez fired back at Hopkins, by breaking down how "The Alien" jumped up to 175.
"When Bernard moved up to 175 [from 160], he had just got soundly beaten twice by Jermain Taylor and had no where to go. He was 43 years old, he had nowhere to go and he moved up to 175," Sanchez told Fighthype.com.
"And when he went up to 175, he fought a guy named Antonio Tarver, who had 3 losses already. He had three losses on his record and that's who he moves up to fight. And he's asking Golovkin to move up to fight the winner of Kovalev-Ward, who would be the number one fighter in the world, undefeated."
