Prince Talks Ward-Golovkin, Ward-Kovalev

UPDATED SAT:  Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez would like Team Ward to speed up their timeline, and rather than 2016, reach out and make plans to glove up with Triple G sooner. “Why not make an offer now that he has the moguls Jay Z and Prince together? Now he is free of Goossen he becomes unavailable!? I guess it’s worth repeating…call Tom Loeffler!”

Sanchez says that maybe the wisest one out there is Danny Jacobs, who told me he’d be open to fighting Golovkin, but wants a 12 rounder first to get a bit more experience. “He understands who he is and what he needs to be ready, without saying things he’s not ready to back up.” Sanchez joked about the sound of crickets chirping when after guys yap, and then get free to make a move, they fall silent…

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Some of your top fight game managers are, maybe surprisingly, not in fact loud, or flashy, or seeking attention sorts. Al Haymon, Cameron Dunkin, James Prince, all spotlight shunners. Prince is a bit more out and about, OK, a lot more out and about than Haymon, and Dunkin, the mover and shaker for a lot of Top Rank talent. But the Texan who pushed the rap group Geto Boys to national prominence and has now been a top grade fight game broker for a long spell was present in NYC on Wednesday, and talked to TSS about his kid Bryant Jennings, who meets Wladimir Klitschko on April 25, at MSG’s big room.

I asked Prince if he thought Jennings was maybe a little overhyped, too struck by the immensity of the task or the stage. “I thought his demeanor was fine,” the Texan told me. “He’s excited about getting to camp and fighting at this point. You can imagine having a dream for years and it’s coming to fruition…people who reach their dream, they’re excited to get there.” Jennings will be just fine and on message come fight night, he said.

Speaking of fights, what about when Ward will have one? It’s been a spell (since Nov. 2013)…when will SOG lace em up? “I think it’s close, a matter of time, we should be back in the ring before June. We’re looking forward to that,” he said. Any names? Not a Dirrell, he said. No names mentioned. “That’s what we’re waiting on,” he said. “There really hasn’t been one yet.” What about level of opposition? Two rust shedders? Three? “He definitely wants to get the rust off. Then anybody get after that. We get the rust off and then the sky’s the limit.”

A comeback fight in Oakland is a good bet, he said.

How about Gennady Golovkin? “Oh man, we want it. I actually talked to Gennady’s promoter Tom Loeffler today. That’s the key question, when. We think that’s a fight that can be made next year. The weight we haven’t discussed. I feel like Golovkin wants to come up. We welcome him, coming to 68. It’s definitely a matter of time. It’s about to happen. We’re looking forward to it.”

“We looking forward to Andre working his way to light heavy, but it’s something he’s going let his body adjust to,” Prince said. He saw my eyes light up and heard me say “Kovalev. That’s mouth watering.”

“Oh man,” Prince agreed, savoring the clash of styles and attributes.

Adonis, he’d be in the mix too. But what about politics, what about Al Haymon…does he deal with Prince? “I look it as all things are possible. This fight game is bigger than me and Al, he knows that and I know that,” the manager stated. “He knows that?” I said, chuckling, noting the Haymon Takeover. “I hope so,” Prince said, chuckling.

We both agreed boxing on network TV is a good thing, and he said that, “I wish everyone who is trying to succeed the best,” with apparent humble good cheer.

I went back to the well on Jennings, and talked about his demeanor, and Prince didn’t care to re-visit the subject of the Philly man’s body language and admission that he was slightly over-amped. He will be fine, he re-stated, politely dismissing my line of questioning as “conspiracy.”

I finished up with the tantalizing prospect of Golovkin-Ward and Ward-Kovalev, and Prince said, “It’s gonna happen.”

THURSDAY UPDATE: Kovalev’s promoter Kathy Duva weighed in on the possibility of a Ward-Kovalev match. “I advised HBO last year

NOTE: Prince noted that Jennings is a Gary Shaw fighter, and he isn’t part of the Roc Nation gang, because the deal to merge Team Shaw and Roc didn’t play out.

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