Andre ward vs GGG

[Kirkland Laing]

The options for GGG at 160 are limited. The really big money fight is Cotto but Cotto won't go near him. Otherwise there are just guys like Murray and Andy Lee to fight. Nothing really big.

Ward is in the same boat at 168. Chavez or a Froch rematch are the biggest fights for Ward but neither of them want to get in the ring with him.

I can understand GGG moving up for Chavez but not for Ward. Ward is capable of beating him and doesn't bring a really big money fight. I can see GGG fighting Froch sooner rather than later. I don't think Haymon will make Chavez-GGG and I don't think GGG's people will go near Ward. GGG-Froch would be an absolute war. Done right it'd fill Wembley and be a PPV event in England. The potential money involved I think will see that fight get made.

[Master]

GGG could fight Quillin, Lee and whoever else to unify. He has big money bout with Canelo by that time.

[Rantcatrat]

I have two opinions on this fight. First, there really isn't anyone else at middleweight that GGG needs to face. He's well understood to be the best in the division. He doesn't need to fight Lee or Quillin because he's already beat guys that are at least as good as they are if not better. I get that. I also would understand if there were opponents on the horizon that looked like they might be special that could be lined up for GGG in the future, but I don't see any there.

GGG wants the money fights: Canelo, Junior, and Cotto. He's made that much obvious. We can't blame him either. It's a money game. But, none of those guys will face him!
Junior is on the other side of the street now and backed away from a multi-million dollar pay day to avoid facing him. Oscar isn't risking Canelo against GGG anytime soon.

If there was the reasonable possibility that Cotto would get in the ring with him, I completely understand waiting to face Cotto. Cotto is a p4p guy, he is the lineal middleweight champion, and he is a big name. A win over him would likely increase GGG's popularity big time. He is Cotto's mandatory so if Cotto keeps the belts, he'll have to face GGG after his next fight. I can understand the logic in waiting to see if Cotto relinquishes the belts before I move up in weight.

So, then, move up. If we're talking about legacy, a win over Ward is better than any win against anyone below him. There's no better way to go for legacy purposes. With that said, it's also a tricky fight for GGG. He's fighting above his weight class and against one of the best and I thought Murray's clinching and size played a large role in why he went as many rounds as he did. Ward uses the clinch better than anyone out there. I wonder how amenable Ward would be to meeting at a catch weight. I'm usually not a fan, but this could be one instance where it would make sense.

Also, I can't help but ask: why hasn't Ward moved up in weight? He cleaned out the division a long time ago. Who else is there for him to fight currently at 168? Why not go up to light heavyweight and face Kovalev or Stevenson or Pascal or Hopkins? Does he really need to face a middleweight? Those fights are much more interesting than any fights he could have at 168. And, also, it's not like Ward isn't as guilty as anyone else on going for money fights. I remember when he was calling out Kelly Pavlik and Junior.

[Ron Swanson]

For those saying clean out 160 clean out 160, they repeated again today on social media they want to go to 168 to fight Chavez. It's really sort of embarrassing that people are supporting this.

The only reason there's talk of a Chavez fight is cos Chavez is talking it up, with Million Dollar bets! GGG's adviser just said "Yeah, he accepts the bet." Chavez probably won't fight Fonfara, Because Arum won't let him, let alone GGG. How can GGG fight Ward? (btw , he's never said he wouldn't.)
Ward is supposed to fight late March/early April, we've heard fuck all about an opponent yet. Wtf is GGG supposed to do, wait around till Ward is ready?
Ward won't be fighting GGG straight off - FACT. so what's wrong with GGG getting on with his career , staying active and When Princess Ward is ready, talk about it then.
Ward needs GGG more than the other way round, infact Ward needs to fight anyone respectable!
GGG is a small MW, if he goes to any weight , it should be either catchweight to KO Canelo (if Oscar has the Cojones to put Canelo in there.), or LMW to fight Floyd. Don't they tick your Precious "Greatness." box?

This Small Middleweight nonsense needs to go. Even as an amateur he fought heavier than he does now!

People said Murray was a big Middleweight but at the 30 day weight in GGG was significantly bigger. How can he be bigger than a big MW but a small MW? It doesn't make sense.

And for the 100th time. I have never said he should chase Ward. I have never said he should fight Ward next. I don't know why people insist on putting words into people's mouths to try and "win" a discussion. Discuss what is being discussed. I said "he should be looking at Ward" but all the people that didn't recognize how good GGG was years ago seem to only look for excuses he shouldn't. Like Ward is a "Princess", who cares, he can fight? Or Ward doesn't sell, who cares he can fight? Selling only mattersin PPV or if it is worthy of being on pay channels. So the he doesn't sell argument has absolutely no place because there is absolutely no doubt GGG/Ward is at least on HBO and possibly PPV so that sorry ass excuse has no place

Talk about putting words into people's Mouths, I never mentioned Ward not being sellable to try to win a debate. What I will say is that until he fights again , he's irrelevant . and I'm not sure what the point of "having a look at Ward" is.
You say he was bigger than Murray at the 30 day weight, I'd be interested to see something to back that up, but at the 7 day stage , he was only 3lbs over the limit, and you only have to look at them in the ring and even in the press conferences to see the size difference.
Also, he was fighting heavier in the amateurs - Big deal! apparently , when he was 14 , his brothers used to make him fight men in the street. What difference does that make? it ain't street fighting and he ain't an amateur. He may have been heavier in the amateurs , but he wasn't Taller or had a longer reach!
at the end of the day , GGG is 32 and wants to stay busy and who can blame him, it's a short career. So again, why should he wait till never never for Ward to decide what he doing. I Like Ward, I think he's a fantastic fighter, but he has fucked his career up big time. Surely that is a bigger waste of talent than what GGG is doing?
if all the MW's continue to duck him, he may have to go to another division, but if I were him, I would be looking down rather than up.

Wards career did get f'd because his friend was being robbed and he wouldn't stand for it. I find Ward as annoying as the next guy but that is the right thing to do.

The point about GGG is that at 22 he fought heavier than he does at soon to be 33. Most guys don't get smaller. He's a full sized middleweight. Length isn't the only factor of size, or do you think Tyson was a Jr. Middle? If you have to cut weight to make Middle you are a full sized middle. And the 30 day weights are public. If you don't believe me you can easily look it up. I forget the exact numbers but I believe Murray was 168 and Golovkin was still 172 lbs. That's right 172 lbs. As in a full sized middleweight. In fact even in camp still 12 lbs over middleweight.

I'm done, I want this guy to challenge himself. Nobody else does. That's fine. But it isn't sport

[Primo Carnera]

For those saying clean out 160 clean out 160, they repeated again today on social media they want to go to 168 to fight Chavez. It's really sort of embarrassing that people are supporting this.

The only reason there's talk of a Chavez fight is cos Chavez is talking it up, with Million Dollar bets! GGG's adviser just said "Yeah, he accepts the bet." Chavez probably won't fight Fonfara, Because Arum won't let him, let alone GGG. How can GGG fight Ward? (btw , he's never said he wouldn't.)
Ward is supposed to fight late March/early April, we've heard fuck all about an opponent yet. Wtf is GGG supposed to do, wait around till Ward is ready?
Ward won't be fighting GGG straight off - FACT. so what's wrong with GGG getting on with his career , staying active and When Princess Ward is ready, talk about it then.
Ward needs GGG more than the other way round, infact Ward needs to fight anyone respectable!
GGG is a small MW, if he goes to any weight , it should be either catchweight to KO Canelo (if Oscar has the Cojones to put Canelo in there.), or LMW to fight Floyd. Don't they tick your Precious "Greatness." box?

This Small Middleweight nonsense needs to go. Even as an amateur he fought heavier than he does now!

People said Murray was a big Middleweight but at the 30 day weight in GGG was significantly bigger. How can he be bigger than a big MW but a small MW? It doesn't make sense.

And for the 100th time. I have never said he should chase Ward. I have never said he should fight Ward next. I don't know why people insist on putting words into people's mouths to try and "win" a discussion. Discuss what is being discussed. I said "he should be looking at Ward" but all the people that didn't recognize how good GGG was years ago seem to only look for excuses he shouldn't. Like Ward is a "Princess", who cares, he can fight? Or Ward doesn't sell, who cares he can fight? Selling only mattersin PPV or if it is worthy of being on pay channels. So the he doesn't sell argument has absolutely no place because there is absolutely no doubt GGG/Ward is at least on HBO and possibly PPV so that sorry ass excuse has no place

Talk about putting words into people's Mouths, I never mentioned Ward not being sellable to try to win a debate. What I will say is that until he fights again , he's irrelevant . and I'm not sure what the point of "having a look at Ward" is.
You say he was bigger than Murray at the 30 day weight, I'd be interested to see something to back that up, but at the 7 day stage , he was only 3lbs over the limit, and you only have to look at them in the ring and even in the press conferences to see the size difference.
Also, he was fighting heavier in the amateurs - Big deal! apparently , when he was 14 , his brothers used to make him fight men in the street. What difference does that make? it ain't street fighting and he ain't an amateur. He may have been heavier in the amateurs , but he wasn't Taller or had a longer reach!
at the end of the day , GGG is 32 and wants to stay busy and who can blame him, it's a short career. So again, why should he wait till never never for Ward to decide what he doing. I Like Ward, I think he's a fantastic fighter, but he has fucked his career up big time. Surely that is a bigger waste of talent than what GGG is doing?
if all the MW's continue to duck him, he may have to go to another division, but if I were him, I would be looking down rather than up.

Wards career did get f'd because his friend was being robbed and he wouldn't stand for it. I find Ward as annoying as the next guy but that is the right thing to do.

The point about GGG is that at 22 he fought heavier than he does at soon to be 33. Most guys don't get smaller. He's a full sized middleweight. Length isn't the only factor of size, or do you think Tyson was a Jr. Middle? If you have to cut weight to make Middle you are a full sized middle. And the 30 day weights are public. If you don't believe me you can easily look it up. I forget the exact numbers but I believe Murray was 168 and Golovkin was still 172 lbs. That's right 172 lbs. As in a full sized middleweight. In fact even in camp still 12 lbs over middleweight.

I'm done, I want this guy to challenge himself. Nobody else does. That's fine. But it isn't sport

I'm not saying he shouldn't challenge himself, I'm just saying he shouldn't have to give away his assets or dilute them just to make a fight of it. I feel the same about Floyd having to go up to LMW to even things up when he's clearly a WW.
It's almost got a touch of the circus acts about it.
And what I'm saying about Ward is that GGG shouldn't hang around waiting. If in time, Ward is fighting again and is relevant again, fine maybe it can happen . I don't think GGG will duck anyone.
Regarding fighting heavier as an amateur, that isn't unusual. I know a few fighters who are lighter as a pro, (Beterbiev fought at HW, Bellew (crap example) but he still fought at HW ) just because they train more regularly and harder as a pro and their body shape adjusts accordingly.

[imp]

As much as I want the best fights to happen and see the ward vs GGG clash...the money involved in an easy cotto fight and competitive canelo fight is too much money for GGG to ignore.

He should try to pursue those fights but we cant ignore the fact that GGG is happy to fight Chavez at his weight but not Ward.

Ward needs to sort himself out.