Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Can Golovkin Beat Ward? Now There's A Fight

can golovkin beat ward - The Boxing Tribune
The Boxing Tribune

Not many can see a fighter out there at middleweight who can put a dent into the destructive tank that is Gennady Golovkin, but what if he were to move up a weight and take on a certain Andre Ward?

Now, logical reason would surely tell you that he wouldn't just steamroll through someone like Ward.

As GGG's stock and notoriety continues to grow, it's inevitable that the two fighters will be mentioned together in the same sentence more and more, given Ward's recent return to the sport as an active fighter in 2015 (after a prolonged layoff).

Not to compare GGG to Arthur Abraham in any way, but I remember when Abraham a few years back was tearing through the middleweight division with an iron fist in Germany, only to move up to super-middleweight for the 'Super 6' tournament and be shown to be far less effective at the 168lbs limit, notably by the UK's Carl Froch, firstly.

Golovkin is a decent sized middleweight - frame and reach wise, but I wouldn't call him a huge 160 pound'er.

Let's look at the tale of the tape for a second.

GGG stands at 5'10 and a half, with a 70 inch reach. Ward on the other hand, a man that is also comfortable at fighting at light-heavyweight, stands at 6 foot tall - with an ever so slight reach advantage at 71 inches.

The difference in reach isn't as significant as many might initially have thought, but the real question would be the natural size and strength disparity. 

Ward has shown his strength and underestimated power in the past in performances like shutdowns of Carl Froch and tactically brilliant stoppage blitzes of Chad Dawson.

He's used to dealing with bigger guys and there is a school of thought that exists that says GGG's power may not move up with him.

Also consider the fact that GGG has always been a middleweight, even going back to the amateurs for the most part. It's the weight he knows, feels comfortable at and makes relatively easily.

Of course, there's also the common knowledge that Golovkin spars with super-middleweights and light-heavyweight regularly, such is the difficulty of getting sparring partners his own size due to their fear of injury at the knockout fists of Golovkin.

It's said that even some of these guys go as far as wearing body protection during spars with Golovkin, with others even insisting that no punches to the head are allowed.

After Golovkin's recent win over David Lemieux at Madison Square Garden, Lemieux remarked afterwards that he expected more from the Golovkin power, despite been stopped and battered inside the distance.

So when you weigh-up a potential fight with Ward, it would come down to me whether or not Golovkin's power would travel up, because as good as he is as a boxer (and he's bloody good), I just don't see him having the type of game needed to outbox a fighter like Andre Ward.

Ward's skills are second to none bar an elite few in the sport and instinctively, I'd just edge towards him winning on a unanimous points decision over Golovkin (as it stands currently).

A real 'pick um' fight, though. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see this match up come to fruition one day.

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