Why Does Gennady Golovkin Fear Greatness?

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Maybe I'm slow but I'm not sure where the flip flop is. Golovkin was willing to fight and Ward was not, but for all we know they would have requested a catchweight at that time too if Ward had been wiling to fight. Team GGG didn't say they had indicated a willingness to take that fight at 168... but if they did that would be a 'flip flop'.

They initially said that the Ward fight didn't make financial sense to them so they weren't pursuing it. Then this story about Golovkin agreeing 3 times to fight Ward comes out - you don't see the flip-flop?

[bojangles1987]

Golovkin looks like he is going to start doing everything I feared he would once he made his name. I never quite latched on as a Golovkin fan because I worried he would act like this. What does he lose by challenging Ward at 168? An undefeated record? So what? And what if he wins?

If he plain said he doesn't want to fight Ward right now because he'd rather wait for Cotto/Alvarez, I'd have some respect. But he and his team ran their mouths, and when Ward laid down the challenge, they showed their true colors. Makes me lose a lot of respect for him. I always find this behavior especially disgraceful from a fighter who spent years languishing because of money and risk.

[-PBP-]

he wouldn't be the new canelo, he'd be the new ward. no one wants to be the new ward. if he wants to be the new canelo then he has to beat canelo

You make no sense. He's ALREADY bigger than Ward. He sells more tickets and gets better ratings. You can potentially hear this in May 2016:

"And in the red corner, hailing from Kazakhstan, this former Olympic Silver medalist, looks to become the first fighter in boxing history to be the world champion at the middleweight and super middleweight divisions and is pound for pound the best fighter in the world today. Ladies and Gentlemen, the reining WBA Super Middleweight Champion and the reigning, defending, WBA Middleweight Champion of the worrrrrlllldddddd....Gennady....Triple GGGGGG....Golovkin"

And you are giving me excuses why you DON'T want to hear that introduction. What kind of fan are you?

[NEETzsche]

Again, fair handed post.

As I said with Rigo's team asking for a CW against Loma, I can understand why K2 has brought it up in a fight with regards to Ward.

I just don't agree with it.

Yes, concessions will have to be made during negotiations between the two.

I don't feel a CW should be one of them.

People bringing up Dawson, well that was on him and his handlers. There is no boxing deity that is proclaiming Ward has to potentially decrease his in ring performance in an act of contrition because Dawson and his team bit off more then they could chew.

And I'm not one of the guys saying GGG is "scared" or "ducking".

I'm just enjoying seeing some of the GGG stans twist a little bit.

Hell, I like GGG. Quite a bit.

i don't want it to occur at a catchweight either, i'd rather just wait for it. once golovkin has unified middleweight (or the other title holders have definitively ducked him) then there should be no reason for a catchweight because golovkin wouldn't have to worry about fighting at middleweight ever again

i get annoyed in these threads because people are equating the actions of GOLOVKIN the mentally ******ed nsb poster with the actions of golovkin the fighter, who has done literally nothing wrong

[NEETzsche]

You make no sense. He's ALREADY bigger than Ward. He sells more tickets and gets better ratings. You can potentially hear this in May 2016:

"And in the red corner, hailing from Kazakhstan, this former Olympic Silver medalist, looks to become the first fighter in boxing history to be the world champion at the middleweight and super middleweight divisions and is pound for pound the best fighter in the world today. Ladies and Gentlemen, the reining WBA Super Middleweight Champion and the reigning, defending, WBA Middleweight Champion of the worrrrrlllldddddd....Gennady....Triple GGGGGG....Golovkin"

And you are giving me excuses why you DON'T want to hear that introduction. What kind of fan are you?

i'm the kind of fan who wants to see him fight lemieux, lee, alvarez and ward

[TheStranger]

They initially said that the Ward fight didn't make financial sense to them so they weren't pursuing it. Then this story about Golovkin agreeing 3 times to fight Ward comes out - you don't see the flip-flop?

I think Golovkin released a statement saying those weren't really his words (agreeing 3X).

[VG_Addict]

I'd like to see Golovkin move up to 168 and fight DeGale.

A win over him puts him in the top 5-6 P4P.

[Joe Beamish]

Instead of automatically criticizing every other fighter like fanboys do, I think it makes more sense to put oneself in a fighter's situation.

In today's world of boxing, weight classes and titles are meaningless. It's every man for himself. That's why everybody is using catch weights to gain an advantage.

Ward, Cotto, Mayweather, Canelo, Pacquiao, everybody. It's part of the game.

Lots of assumptions in this thread about GGG. His man Sanchez has stated several times publicly that Golovkin is willing to take on everybody from 154 to 168.

I think that's still true. But he DIDN'T SAY what weight these fights would be at.

People here just assume things without reading contracts or being involved in negotiations. The fact is that GGG never contracted to fight Froch or Chavez, Jr. at 168, and we don't know if that would actually have happened.

If I were GGG, I would hold out for a BIG MONEY FIGHT against Cotto or Canelo. Either fight would be WAY MORE PRESTIGIOUS AND PROFITABLE than taking on Ward.

Furthermore, GGG knows that Canelo and Cotto will probably push to drain him a few pounds. At best, GGG will fight at 160 against one of these two soon. So why go up to 168 first?

Ward is 6'1", and GGG is 5'10". They are guys who are totally different sizes. Ward has fought at LHW, and will almost certainly do so again. He's huge. There's no point in taking him on now at 168, if ever -- anymore than Bradley or Pacquiao or Mayweather should be taking on GGG at 160.

Not sure why everybody is making this so complicated.

[FeFist]

He makes money off of his hype. Someone like Ward would put a stop to that.

[boliodogs]

I just dont get why he needs a catchweight for Ward but not Froch or Chavez jr...makes 0 sense to me

Because Ward is twice as good as Froch and 10 times as good as Chavez. You know this, I know this, most fans know this and GGG knows this. If Ward was just a pretty good 168 pounder GGG would gladly fight him at 168. Ward is by far the best 168 pounder in the world and one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. That's why GGG won't come all the way up to Ward's ideal weight but will fight him half way at 164.