Gennady Golovkin has hit out at Andre Ward's "one-sided" claim that the Kazakh rejected a clash in the ring.
Golovkin will make his return to the ring this April in a middleweight unification clash against Ryota Murata. The Kazakh star was one of the pound-for-pound greats at the pinnacle of his career and held talks with undefeated star Ward over a bumper clash.
After a fight failed to materialise, the current middleweight champion slammed Ward's "incorrect" account of the situation but has admitted he has nothing against the retired American. "I honestly just said Happy Birthday to Andre Ward," Golovkin told Ariel Helwani via translator.
"If we are talking about the professional side of a fight being made, talk to the promoters and managers. I have nothing against Andre Ward he is a great fighter. Yes his version and one-sided approach trying to blame me for that not taking place is completely incorrect."
The pair clashed on social media last month after Ward tweeted a number of fights he would have taken during his career in response to a fan - including Golovkin.
A bitter war of words rumbled on when Ward fought light-heavyweight star Sergey Kovalev in 2016, with 'GGG's' trainer Abel Sanchez claiming his charge could have handed Ward his first defeat. Ward claimed Golovkin had chosen to turn down a clash in "five seconds".
Who would have won if the pair met - Andre Ward or Gennady Golovkin? Let us know in the comments section below
Golovkin quickly fired back at Ward's fantasy fights tweet, writing: "Andre, stop lying to the fans. Your team made the offer AFTER I announced the fight with Lemieux and sold out MSG. You are still angry since that you never sold tickets like me. HBO knew you used the offer for publicity to move to 175. Happy Birthday."
Ward then retweeted a previous video that appeared to show Golovkin downplaying a clash, with the caption: "Lil G, Gennady Golovkin, come on man. I have receipts stop playing." Golovkin had the final say: "My English is getting better, your memory is getting worse."
Ward eventually retired without a single blemish on his perfect record and was considered one of the modern era greats. Golovkin equally will go down in history as one of the most successful fighters with just one controversial defeat to Canelo Alvarez during his career.
Tensions continued throughout their respective careers up until Ward's retirement. The American reigned as unified champion in two weight classes, and was previously ranked as pound-for-pound No.1
Now Golovkin has an opportunity to cement his legacy by finally avenging his defeat to Alvarez later this year if he can progress beyond Murata.
