Yeah, I've never understood why he's rated so highly by some. Like Khan, he's a talented but flawed fighter. Although he hasn't even proven himself to be on the level of someone like Khan IMO as his best wins aren't as impressive and he's been stopped by lesser opposition.
Maybe he's slowed down somewhat, but then again Lara has always been limited inside so a fighter who can take a punch and pressure like Herd is a tough stylistic matchup for him. Molina outworked him inside and should have gotten the decision years back IMHO and even Angulo was able to pin him against the ropes and hurt him.
I don't know about that, but he legitimately looked like a damaged fighter vs Derev & weak to the body after the punishment dished out. Dude looked ready cough up his liver between rounds in the rematch.
As if ESPN guys hating on Canelo is anything new. Like someone else mentioned, they have guys on their staff like Faitelson who's main job is hating on Canelo for the clickbait and because he represents direct competition to the ESPN brand. And guys like Bradley and Ward who both chose early retirement are especially bitter about watching on the sidelines as they're being overshadowed by the younger fighter from their era that was below them at one point. Bradley is out here trying to hate on Canelo for taking risks that he never would have as a fighter.
When people hype up Andrade claiming he hasn't been given a shot I wonder if they're just trolling or really that gullible. Andrade has ducked more fights than anyone. At 154 he was avoiding step up fights left and right (including straight up going MIA for a stretch), even at 160 he previously gave up a mandatory slot vs Korobov, said he was swerving Jacobs because he'd rather be bffs with him and reportedly pulled out vs Derev (which he's got a track record of doing). He's showing a bit more motivation lately because he's running out of time to cash in his protected 0, but he's still not doing anything about it like making a mandatory request at 168, he's just fighting scrubs on the sidelines waiting for a jackpot to fall in his lap.
Those guys should be trying to create a legacy for themselves instead of just sitting hoping to cash in as Canelo busily does more work than most of them combined.
Canelo deliberately fighting guys on short notice is yet another phony narrative haters have come up with over the years. They use the Kovalev and Smith fights as an example even though it holds no water:
Canelo had in fact been pushing to face Kovalev in place of Yarde. It was Kovalev who couldn't or wouldn't get the deal done from his end and proceeded with the Yarde fight first. Meanwhile it was DAZN not Canelo that selected the November fight date because they wanted a month buffer between that fight and Joshua-Ruiz II:
https://twitter.com/idecboxing/status/1171840356620611585?lang=bn The situation wasn't even optimal from Canelo's end because until Kovalev secured the Yarde win, it remained up in there air whether he'd indeed move up to 175 or stay at 160, so not much time to prepare for a 2 division leap in weight.
As for Smith:
Canelo was caught up in litigation with DAZN and Golden Boy and was not free to negotiate a fight. However, he made it clear since September that he was targeting a Dec date and hoping to secure a fight with one of the champs. As soon as his legal situation was settled, he sent out offers to all the champs, and Smith who had also been training all along for December in hopes of landing Canelo or another title fight, accepted.
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Again, if anything those guys were the one with the advantage because they could prepare with Canelo more specifically in mind whereas he had no idea which or any of the champs would end up accepting.
The comical thing about that phony narrative is that Canelo is the one busier fighting with shorter turnarounds than anyone. At one point from Dec to last May, he fought 3 times in under a 6 month span. He's been doing more work than all the guys around him combined yet haters with their backwards narratives try to turn his ambition into a negative.
GGG walked away as the more damaged fighter. At the end of the second fight he looked like he'd been beaten in a back alley let alone the punishment he took to the body. Canelo was back in the ring just 3 months later and has looked stronger than ever while GGG took a long break and still looked weak to the body vs Derevyanchenko. He straight up stopped claiming Mexican style after what Canelo did to him.
Doubtful. Besides Floyd's talents, there isn't a star of the caliber of Oscar that can propel him to the next level. Also, for a good chunk of his time on top there weren't many other fighters receiving mainstream attention. He and Pac were pretty much the only game in town for a while. Now you have the heavyweights making noise along with numerous fighters receiving promotional pushes from different platforms.
I'm doubtful Top Rank will even approach Garcia with a serious offer considering Arum's been dismissive of that matchup in the past and was recently going around saying Garcia lost his value as an opponent and unworthy of his time, never mind that he recently pulled in more ppvs than anyone other than Canelo or Pac (which Loma turned down).
Turning the tables on boxing's boogeyman definitely ranks among the ballsiest moves by a fighter in recent years. It was a risky gamble but it payed off as it caught team GGG completely off guard to the extent that GGG abandoned his team gameplan and retreated for most of the fight which was an ill advised move given the circumstances.
I found Walters to be one of those guys like Broner and Linares who leaves me scratching my head over the hype they receive. His main claim to fame was beating aging Darchinyan and Donaire who were fighting in a division they didn't belong. He's a capable fighter but nothing special in my eyes and looked lackluster against Sosa (even though he should have gotten the W) prior to Loma.
Seems like his heart wasn't in it.
Canelo has had haters since he was a teenager lol. I remember when people claimed Ryan Rhodes would expose him and for while people claimed he was chinny and would eventually get knocked out because he once buckled momentarily in a fight. Up until recently they questioned his desire to face the best when he's faced everyone the public has asked of him, which is rare these days especially for someone in his position. As a Canelo fan, I don't mind the haters because he uses them as motivators. He was a first ballot hall of famer before this with one of the deepest resumes in boxing, now he's looking to lap the field.
Whipped him? GGG went into hiding after the loss recovering from his injuries and when he came back he was no longer speaking English. Pretty sure they swapped him out for his brother.
How do you duck someone who claimed they're not ready for you? Mikey is daring to be great while Loma is turning down fights with a 40yo Pac and doesn't avenge his losses.
Reynoso never said he wouldn't fight Mexicans in the future, he straight up said Benavidez was a good opponent. He simply said they weren't on the immediate agenda, specifically Munguia who's still green. Btw, Benavidez is tied up with an upcoming fight and is still chasing a unification with Plant. But somehow Canelo critics think he's supposed to fight every fighter in 3 divisions at once while those other guys shouldn't be expected to face other.
wilder had the balls to ask for immediate rematch plus he also had a clause in his contract... ggg spent months in recovery LMAO...
and needed a soft touch to comeback after the beating...
Not only that, the second fight wouldn't have even happened if Canelo hadn't backed up the Brinks truck to convince him to get back in the ring again.
The main similarities in their respective rematches is that the boxer changed up their style and backed up their supposed boogeyman ko artist opponents.
He also pulled out of a fight with Charlo because he'd rather beef with him on twitter and at 160 said he'd steer clear of Jacobs because his priority was on remaining bffs with him.
Who gives a **** about Andrade? He's 32 years old and in his entire career has never faced nor defeated a full champion (ex or reigning) while turning down opportunities to separate himself from the pack. The most noteworthy thing about him is having one of the weakest resumes of any 2 division champion (both vacant belts).
Lol ask Martinez or 180+lb Geale whether Cotto was shot. Cotto was the lineal champ and being described as new and improved with Roach in his corner. As for Kovalev he was the overall most accomplished fighter in the division and remained the number 2 ranked champ coming off of beating two undefeated LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS including avenging a previous loss. There are many fighters who become champs by claiming vacant belts or never test the waters in higher divisions, but you're somehow criticizing Canelo for taking on future hall of famers who remained #1-2 in their divisions, including one who he jumped up to his 5th division to face? Ridiculous.
Seems like Bivol is another one of these supposed "young and hungry" guys who have decided to play it safe and sit on a belt while waiting for a cash out. Bivol's last opponent was some completely random guy not even ranked in the top 15 by the WBA.
Loeffler is on record saying Martinez was never offered that fight and it was more a matter of their schedules not lining up. It was Abel who made the claim that Martinez was ducking him to create the GGG hype which many fans and folks in the media bought into.
And there you have it. Most old school boxing fans are cheapskates by nature. I’m not gonna purchase a new $400 television just to get DAZN nor am I going to watch it on my phone. That aside, I have no issues with DAZN programming and plan to subscribe when I buy a smart television.
You don't need a smart TV to stream video. If it has an HDMI input all you need is a streaming device like a chromecast.
At 29 a supposed beast mode GGG had his hands full against a lower tier fighter in Ouma in a fight in which he was missing with a lot of sloppy shots and getting tagged far too much. The reality is that GGG has never been a defensively savvy guy. If you're able to trade with him (which all the top fighters he's faced have been able to do) and you're able to put your punches together, you'll have success tagging him flush and ripping him with combos.
Earlier in his career, his fanboys would actually praise him for getting hit flush and insist that he'd deliberately run his face into punches, yet the moment he stepped up his opposition against guys who could better exploit those openings, they suddenly claimed he got old overnight. If anything he benefited from fights like Brook and Jacobs because they served as reminders that he can't just expect to walk through opponents.
At any rate, GGG was as good as he was ever going to get in his rematch with Canelo as he remained undefeated (with a soft resume/not many pro fights) and finally had experience against top level guys under his belt, including going 12 rounds with Canelo, yet Canelo went in there as the betting underdog and beat him at his own game.
“But if you research the timeline of both their careers, you’ll see ggg wasn’t anywhere on the radar.“
This is my favorite part of the thread. The OP tries to convince us that GGG wasn’t even relevant when Martinez was winning titles at middleweight.
Martinez won his first middleweight title only four months before Golovkin won his first middleweight title.
Martinez then had seven fights at middleweight over four years after winning that title and before retiring. GGG fought 10 times in that span and was considered a dangerous and top middleweight the entire time.
I’m not taking a side in the who ducked who battle, I just wanted to point out how insane it is to think GGG wasn’t relevant from 2010-2014.
GGG was an afterthought for most of his career. When Martinez defeated Pavlik to become unified MW champ, GGG was preparing to face a journeyman for an interim belt. At one point, GGG was one of three belt holders by the WBA. He didn't make his US debut until late '12 when Martinez was facing Chavez Jr. Prior to that fight GGG had faced a Japanese journeyman on an undercard in the Ukraine, so no, he wasn't some in demand fighter. He didn't start receiving real buzz until HBO decided to hype him as the second coming while Martinez was on his way out.
Linares is a three division champion who should have been unified at lightweight but the WBC stripped him for a stupid reason. Before Lomachenko beat him, he was unbeaten for nearly six years. He’s 47-5 with some impressive names on his resume.
He wasn’t hyped. HBO and Ring Magazine correctly pegged him as a top 10-20 p4p type fighter who was arguably the best lightweight in the world.
Now he’s 34, which isn’t young for his size, he lost to the top dog at 135 and he’s too small for 140. So he’s being correctly pegged as an older fighter who will eventually have to fight for his place at 135 against younger talent.
He was stripped for not facing his mandatory. The WBC actually went for bat for him on a few occasions, like maintaining his pseudo champ status even after he pulled out of a return fight with his mandatory and instead opted to pursue a title shot with a different organization. And a few years prior to that when Demarco beat him to a bloody pulp, the WBC pushed for a rematch by designating his next fight a title eliminator even though his opponent was moving up in weight and not even ranked in the division. He ended up losing that one too.
And yeah, he's held titles in multiple divisions but most were vacant when he claimed them. Probably his best division was lightweight but he was stopped three time there (two of which were huge upsets) and the only title holder he defeated in the division was mediocre Crolla.
In the leadup to Cotto-Martinez, Loeffler himself said Martinez never turned down that fight and that their schedules hadn't lined up. GGG revisionists try to claim he dominated the division for a decade when in reality he was an afterthought for a large portion of his career. When Martinez was at his peak, GGG was fighting nobodies on the sidelines with little buzz-- and by the time HBO put their hype machine behind him, Martinez was on his way out.