By Edward Chaykovsky

WBC/IBO/WBA/IBF middleweight king Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs) has fired back at retired super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24KOs) - as in recent days their two promoters have discussed the possibility of matching them in 2017.

This past weekend in Monte Carlo, Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler sat down with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport, who handle Froch, and they discussed the idea of the fight - in very loose terms since Froch is retired.

Froch has not fought since May of 2014, when he knocked out George Groves before a record crowd of 80,000 people at Wembley Stadium. He officially announced his retirement from the sport in July of last year.

There were some discussions about a Froch vs. Golovkin fight in 2015. Froch decided to retire instead of taking the fight.

Froch believes Golovkin is desperate to face a big name, but it won't be him. The Nottingham fighter is not very impressed with Golvokin's record of wins - including the September fifth round stoppage of IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook.

He would like to see Golovkin face the boxer that a lot of others have asked him to face - former super middleweight king Andre Ward, who takes on IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on Saturday night.

Froch is siding with Ward to unseat Kovalev for the titles, and believes he will beat Golovkin as well if they collide at 170-pounds.

"If Golovkin wants to fight the best - and after talking about moving up to somewhere near super-middleweight or even 171-172lbs when my negotiations with him took place over a year ago - I am sure Andre Ward could make that weight. Ward may or may not beat Sergey Kovalev, but I think he does and I am sure he can make it to [170-pounds] quite easily," Froch said to Sky Sports.

"That fight would be one of those where they could say 'now Golovkin is fighting someone credible'. If he wants to talk about being the best, then he needs to fight the best. So if Ward beats Kovalev that is a fight I would certainly love to see. I am not sure it would be a 50-50 - simply for the weight reasons - but he was happy to fight someone two weight divisions below him so why not come up one division and fight Ward at super-middleweight or [170-pounds]? Then he can show how great he is, how unbeatable he is, how hard he punches. But I will tell you now, Golovkin will get a shock and he'd get beat by Andre Ward."

Golovkin took to social media to hit back, telling Froch that he has no place to question what's credible.

"Hey you! Carl Froch, don't judge who is credible or not. You are another clown who talks too much without stepping up to actually do things," Golovkin wrote.

Golovkin then advised his own promoter, Tom Loeffler, and Froch's promoter, Eddie Hearn, to stop bringing up the idea of a fight between him and Froch - because there appears to be no chance of that match ever taking place.

"Hey gentlemen Eddie Hearn , Tom Loeffler - without any actual progress please stop rehashing the possibility of this fight over and over," Golovkin stated.