By Carlos Boogs, Ryan Burton

Retired super middleweight champion Carl Froch believes IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) is already showing signs of his age.

Golovkin turns 35-years-old in April, which is why his handlers are trying to keep him as active as possible. Traditionally Golovkin fights about three to four times per year. Last year his team was very disappointed, because Golovkin only fought twice.

Inactive since a September stoppage win over IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, Golovkin will make a mandatory defense against Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) on March 18th from New York's Madison Square Garden.

Froch retired back in 2014, when he was close to turning 37. After reviewing some of Golovkin's recent fights, Froch sees certain signs of age unraveling.

"He's getting older now. He's 35. I remember what it's like to be 35. I was at the end of my career. I retired just before I was 37, because I was feeling the recovery and feeling the pace. Golovkin, his best years may be behind him. Kell Brook hit him with a lot of shots. He gets hit and he gets caught. There are only so many shots that you can take from these top fighters. I don't know, his best years are behind him in my opinion. There is still a lot more for him to come and do, but I don't think he's going to have the time to fight all of the top, top fighters," Froch told BoxingScene and Fighthype.

Of course, Froch still believes Golovkin has a very thin record and needs to step up his level of competition.

"As a boxing purist, I think he's a great fighter. In the amateurs he's shown that. The people that he's beaten have gone on to do things in the professional game. He's proven that he's of a quality, which is a certain quality, a high quality. But not all top amateurs make top pros," Froch said.

"So now for him to get that respect, and not just from fighters like me.. but from fighters like me, critics within the boxing fraternity, and there is lots of critics out there, who are there to criticize whether it's constructive or negative. It's difficult to talk Triple G and put him up there with the elite, the best of the best and say that he's a Hall of Famer - purely because he's got no names that stand out on his record that he's beaten. There is nobody there.

"This [fight with Jacobs] is the first fight for him to start notching up that list of great fighters. He needs to go on from this, and do more, and show us what we all think. I think he's a great fighter. Obviously as undisputed middleweight champion, he's doing something right. But he's still not boxed anybody. He needs to step up and maybe fight a James DeGale or an Andre Ward. That would really answer questions and tell us how good he really is."