After watching boxing for several decades, why fight any tough opponents?

Fair post, let me play devils advocate, if I’m an average boxer and I pick this easy system, and instead of knocking out an opponent in the 3rd round, as expected, it’s a cherry-pick gone wrong and it turns out to be a barn burner, Ward vs Gatti style, is this now ok because I’ve entertained? IMO in this scenario the problem is labeling it a “cherry pick” from the beginning because it wasn’t the exact preferred opponent. This is exactly what happened with Tank relative to Barrios and Cruz. Barrios and Cruz were in no way cherry picks. A lot on NSB called them that because Tank was favored to win, works with Floyd and Haymon, and they were angry because Tank is fighting in house fights and not the guys the want-Loma, Ryan, Haney. Ok I get being angry but basing a boxer on these variables is utterly ridiculous. Both Barrios and Cruz performed exactly how I expected because I saw them as solid pros. Not hof’ers or top p4p boxers, but solid pros that weren’t just there for a payday. They tried to win. Instead of Tank getting credit for the wins the anger cause responses like, “Tank got exposed”, which to me is crazy because as I posted winning a tougher than expected fight used to be a positive. Don’t get me wrong, it happens other times as well. Ggg/Brook and Loma/linares are other examples where the fight was tougher than expected and posters saw this as a negative.

Fair post, let me play devils advocate, if I’m an average boxer and I pick this easy system, and instead of knocking out an opponent in the 3rd round, as expected, it’s a cherry-pick gone wrong and it turns out to be a barn burner, Ward vs Gatti style, is this now ok because I’ve entertained? I think alot of the issue is how fans perceive the situation and how the fighter and his team proclaim the situation. Let's look at Dana Rosenblatt as an example. He built his record up to 28-0 fighting marginal competition and was paired with Vinny Pazienza in a New England battle. Vinny was coming off a destruction at the hands of RJJ and was perceived as name (albeit a passed prime one) that would look good on Dana's resume. Vinny ended up blasting him out. Rosenblatt evened the score and finished his career with a 37-1-2 record. The point is that I don't recall Rosenblatt, his team or the fans ever trying to make him into anything he wasn't. He was a good regional fighter who fought for fringe belts like the WBU, IBO and IBA. Had fans, promotions or Rosenblatt himself tried to declare him some P4P great, people would have taken issue. Some fans can be insufferable in how they hype up their favorite fighter or hate on another. Some fighters and their teams are delusional...for me, it only really matters if it ends with two dudes (or girls for that matter) getting in the ring and settling the debate for real....not on a boxing forum. ​​​​​

Another fighter who racked up wins against soft or washed up competition was the Danish pastry "Super" Brian Nielsen. He almost eclipsed Marciano's streak but was upended by Dicky "Raging Bull" Ryan. The Danish fighter suffered cramps and dehydration late in a fight he was dominating and ended up getting TKO'd. Wonder how we would have celebrated Nielsen had he won and promptly retired with a 50-0 record. I remember him and all the bullchit talk that came with him He was a super middleweight if I’m not mistaken Honestly though , he was was one of the guys you knew would never fight anyone worthy and so did his team Most profit , the least effort

Not saying you don’t have a point but it seems you’re forcing things into this narrative that really don’t belong. For example, Tank. Weren’t His last 2 fights exciting, back and forth quality fights that gave you your money’s worth? Could it be that you and others negatively pre-judged Barrios and Cruz based solely on the fact Tank was fighting them? Don’t boxers that win tougher than expected fights deserve credit for winning a tough fight? Fair post, let me play devils advocate, if I’m an average boxer and I pick this easy system, and instead of knocking out an opponent in the 3rd round, as expected, it’s a cherry-pick gone wrong and it turns out to be a barn burner, Ward vs Gatti style, is this now ok because I’ve entertained?

Bud I been saying we kiss the fighter's asses too much for over a decade now. Yup, no reason to make good fights anymore. We all know it. We all still protect our guys doe. Everyone's main squeeze always makes perfect sense, and, because they make sense that alone justifies their ****ty products. Blame Floyd probably but I'm not even sure. He's maybe a symptom too. At the end of the day, boxing fans are an incredibly reasonable customer actually. I'm very jealous. Here I am, having to make high quality products and such because I can't sell a shit sandwich while acknowledging it's a shyt sandwich but making that okay because I got no beef because beef's overpriced now :rolleyes:. To be clear, I don't sell food goods, but you get my point, a product is a product and boxing fans accept a ****ty product all the time, and, every single ****ing time you try to check them on this they tell you their guy has a reasonable excuse. Every, single, ****ing, time. I get being a fan of a dude, but always agreeing? That's crazy. Y'all're ****ing nuts. Canelo fans always agree with Nelo Fury fans always agree with Fury Joshua fans always agree with Joshua Wilder fans agree with Wilder, to the point where they ****ing embarrass me. It gets old after a while. Oh look, BangEm agrees with Joshua, Denium agrees with Fury, and 1hour agrees with Wilder, while Thunglife holds court over the Canelo show....always. And we, they too, ***** about boxers not fighting hard fights. Wonder, when you can get customers like them, why that is. No offense to any mentioned, I mentioned because I likes youse. Everyone one of you dudes are the funniest of your kind. Agreed, but I also feel like that dude that just goes out to fight whoever ends up getting the shaft. Look at Oscar, he fought everyone in my opinion, and finished with many losses. What does he get? Yea he was good BUT BUT BUT. Because of his losses his legacy is diminished and not as highly regarded as those who were smarter and a lot more careful. He could have gone 50 or 60 and 0 and be considered a top 10 ATG. If you go the Oscar route fans will be thankless and a only a small minority will give you credit.

I’ve noticed fighters can become hype machines and make millions if they get matched up with cans and taxi drivers for a majority of their career. Build your name by viciously knocking out opponents. Berlanga, Benavidez and Tank Davis are going this route. GGG and Lemiux did this as well. You can look amazing, get fans invested in your career and you’ve got yourself a boxing career. Sure you’ll lose when you eventually have to fight a legit boxer, but over the course of many years you’ve made more money than you could have working a day job and could probably retire in your 30’s. Why take on tough opponents in your 20’s or even early 30’s? There is no glory in fighting tough, because you’ll just start collecting haters that pick at your resume, point out fights where you looked like dog **** against a tough opponent, and you won’t win at convincing them, as they take to social media and blast you as a fighter. Haters will ask you to fight this guy after you beat the other guy who was supposed to beat you. And after you beat them all, they’ll start asking you to beat the bigger guys so that eventually down the line, somewhere there will be a guy that can finally take you out and beat you. After this loss you’ll finally go away or so they hope. Not saying you don’t have a point but it seems you’re forcing things into this narrative that really don’t belong. For example, Tank. Weren’t His last 2 fights exciting, back and forth quality fights that gave you your money’s worth? Could it be that you and others negatively pre-judged Barrios and Cruz based solely on the fact Tank was fighting them? Don’t boxers that win tougher than expected fights deserve credit for winning a tough fight?

yes, u could be a belt hostage holder type, but if u unify and hold multiple belts in theory you are fighting the toughest guys available, you have to be both good enough & have a good promoter to make the fights too Agreed. A unification would weed out the pretenders. This would be a route without chasing a belt. I think you can go far without a belt, just keep looking spectacular and knocking people out and fans, the dumb ones, will fall in love.

Another fighter who racked up wins against soft or washed up competition was the Danish pastry "Super" Brian Nielsen. He almost eclipsed Marciano's streak but was upended by Dicky "Raging Bull" Ryan. The Danish fighter suffered cramps and dehydration late in a fight he was dominating and ended up getting TKO'd. Wonder how we would have celebrated Nielsen had he won and promptly retired with a 50-0 record. 50-0 is entirely possible, if you go the route I’m suggesting. You don’t have to be Floyd.

True, although it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a promoter can move some chess pieces around for you to get you a strap through an easy route. Say a vacant title vs an easy opponent. yes, u could be a belt hostage holder type, but if u unify and hold multiple belts in theory you are fighting the toughest guys available, you have to be both good enough & have a good promoter to make the fights too

That's a pretty accurate description of Raymi's fighting style. Ali was a character, he'd fight the same Filipino or Bangladeshi construction worker 2-3 times in some dimly lit gym racking up those KO wins. Off topic but I was talking to someone who was friends with Edwin Valero's wife. I always thought he commit suicide after killing his wife but the wife's friend was convinced it was the Venezuelan authorities. Who knows...anyway, I digress. I love character's like that, boxing benefits from them. I'm a big Babic fan, he just goes out and gives everything he has in a wild and crazy manner. Pure entertainment guys like that. Nash out.

Another fighter who racked up wins against soft or washed up competition was the Danish pastry "Super" Brian Nielsen. He almost eclipsed Marciano's streak but was upended by Dicky "Raging Bull" Ryan. The Danish fighter suffered cramps and dehydration late in a fight he was dominating and ended up getting TKO'd. Wonder how we would have celebrated Nielsen had he won and promptly retired with a 50-0 record.

if u hold the belts u have fought some good guys in your division True, although it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a promoter can move some chess pieces around for you to get you a strap through an easy route. Say a vacant title vs an easy opponent.

Yeah, I remember Raymi Ali, like a smaller smaller, crapper version of Alen Babic. I remember some thinking he had faked his death. Nash out. That's a pretty accurate description of Raymi's fighting style. Ali was a character, he'd fight the same Filipino or Bangladeshi construction worker 2-3 times in some dimly lit gym racking up those KO wins. Off topic but I was talking to someone who was friends with Edwin Valero's wife. I always thought he commit suicide after killing his wife but the wife's friend was convinced it was the Venezuelan authorities. Who knows...anyway, I digress.

Eh, it's complicated and it's different strokes for different folks. It's prizefighting and it makes sense to maximize the profit and minimize the punishment of you can. At some point the undefeated and gaudy records translated into revenue. It doesn't work for everyone....Raymi Ali was 25-0 with 25 KOs before his unfortunate demise. I doubt half the posters on NSB remember him. Yeah, I remember Raymi Ali, like a smaller smaller, crapper version of Alen Babic. I remember some thinking he had faked his death. Nash out.

Eh, it's complicated and it's different strokes for different folks. It's prizefighting and it makes sense to maximize the profit and minimize the punishment of you can. At some point the undefeated and gaudy records translated into revenue. It doesn't work for everyone....Raymi Ali was 25-0 with 25 KOs before his unfortunate demise. I doubt half the posters on NSB remember him.

if u hold the belts u have fought some good guys in your division

Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was the King of this, and look how highly he is regarded? He beat up 40 debutants, 40 journeyman, and 10 literal punching bags, to get to 90-0 or whatever it was. If his son retired when he was unbeaten, when around 49-0, he would be seen as a legend now as well, and look at the reality of him. Jr is barely better than chump Sr was. Nash out. The list is endless

Golovkin was fighting the best available opposition at middleweight. He wasn’t ducking the top 10 like Gervonta Davis.

I’ve noticed fighters can become hype machines and make millions if they get matched up with cans and taxi drivers for a majority of their career. Build your name by viciously knocking out opponents. Berlanga, Benavidez and Tank Davis are going this route. GGG and Lemiux did this as well. You can look amazing, get fans invested in your career and you’ve got yourself a boxing career. Sure you’ll lose when you eventually have to fight a legit boxer, but over the course of many years you’ve made more money than you could have working a day job and could probably retire in your 30’s. Why take on tough opponents in your 20’s or even early 30’s? There is no glory in fighting tough, because you’ll just start collecting haters that pick at your resume, point out fights where you looked like dog **** against a tough opponent, and you won’t win at convincing them, as they take to social media and blast you as a fighter. Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. was the King of this, and look how highly he is regarded? He beat up 40 debutants, 40 journeyman, and 10 literal punching bags, to get to 90-0 or whatever it was. If his son retired when he was unbeaten, when around 49-0, he would be seen as a legend now as well, and look at the reality of him. Jr is barely better than chump Sr was. Nash out.