Does anyone else feel like the constant generalization of nations & ethnic groups in sports is kind of stupid and at this point somewhat mundane?
A lot of great boxers from what people think is "Easter Europe" isn't even Eastern Europe. For instance Dmitry Bivol was born in Kyrgyzstan, Gennady Golovkin is from Kazakhstan, and a lot of Russia's best athletes in Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Sambo, Mixed Martial Arts, Kyokushin and the list goes on are actually from the Caucus which has been a war torn region for over 100 years....Caucus regions like Balkaria, Georgia, Chechnya and Dagestan...which isn't really European even in the slightest.
I don`t believe that having all the belts is just a kind of obsession for Golovkin. It is more of a necessity for him. What he is doing - he is closing all the escape routes which other fighters may take in order to duck fighting him and still have the champion recognition at MW. When he becomes undisputed MW champion, he will stay in the division doing his mandatories and waiting for Canelo, Andrade, Lara, Charlos, maybe Cotto if he is still around, to move up, while baiting Floyd at 154 and big name fighters at 168.
He will move up to 175 eventually, but that would be like 3-5 years from now.
So you think GGG will move up to Light Heavyweight for super fights when he's 38-40 years old? I find that highly unlikely. I just hope after he collects all the titles we get even just 2-3 big fights out of GGG before his career is over.
All I want for Christmas is Golovkin vs Canelo. I really hope Canelo doesn't duck after he beats Cotto. That will be three generations of Latino legends becoming cowards in the presence of Triple G and voiding contracts to weasel out of their beatings while the whiny Americans cry "who he beats, he didn't beat nobody!" When Sergio Martinez ducked him for a mandatory title challenge for years, the Cotto ducked him like...a duck and now Canelo is already talking about ducking if he wins. Caesar Chavez Jr ducked out of fighting GGG, Floyd refused to acknowledge the fact Gennady would come down to 154....why? Because he knows he's a threat. The guy has beaten 6 or 7 top 10 MWs all by knockout and anyone with an eye can tell he's incredible. His amateur career is insane too.
Meanwhile he offered to fight Ward at 164, Ward who has been out for over a year and is trying to get gimmie fights at above 168...But GGG is ducking, the different is GGG is a MW and the guys ducking him are in his division with belts and mandatory defense clauses where they are supposed to fight him so anyone saying "but he won't fight Ward" you are a moron this is as open and shut as it gets. A lot of racist boxing fans and just piggish haters.
Not terribly interested in Golovkin going up to 168, especially to fight a semi retired pretty old Froch...who is great but eh, I'd rather him face Ward too, but I'd rather Ward face Kovalev and Canelo face GGG. If GGG gets ****ed over again by Cotto/Canelo, then he should probably either fight Froch, Lara or the winner of the Andy Lee title bout.
Fighting the #10/#9 rated guy (often cycling to a new #10 or #9 guy after knocking off the prior #10/#9 guy) in 6 out of his alleged 8 best fights can't be covered up with a "fought top 10 opponents" platitude.
Golovkin was a very good amateur; no one will deny him that.
The fact still remains that, as a profesional boxer, Golovkin's been in all of maybe two fights where the actual bout was expected to be a fight (though still never being in an even fight; I believe the narrowest odds that Golovkin has ever seen for a fight were the 8:1 odds that he was favored against Daniel Geale).
Golovkin has basically been in fights that you'd undergird a hot prospect with for 10 years, yet folks are earnestly trying to put him in the conversation for "best middleweight ever" nonsense.
Until he actually fights someone worth fighting, I give Golovkin minimal credit for being a good amateur who turned pro.
If he had fought Cesar Chavez Jr, Sergio Martinez and then a staple big name like Canelo or Cotto and blasted them, many people would then consider him the best MW ever. Since they all pretty much welched and ran from fighting him, it's not exactly GGG's fault. On a skill for skill evaluation he's one of the best MW's in my opinion but he's spent 5-6 years now trying to get the big fights he deserved with little to no success in his division, not his fault boxing is just a bit of a kangaroo court.
So while, his resume doesn't stack up to guys like Greb's, Hagler's, Robinson's, Jones's etc that's not exactly his fault. GGG has been avoided throughout his prime and will probably start getting these bigger fighters only once he's 35-36 and then the boxing vultures will swoop and say "he was never that good!".
I'm a Golovkin fan... and you're not coming off as objective. There are some things you're exaggerating (for example sparring with Kovalev - first, it's sparring. Second, Kov was coming off a vacation and wasn't in shape), there are some things you're plain wrong on (he used to fight behind the jab a lot, it didn't just come to him in the Lemieux fight; he weighted 170, not 165), and some things you're over simplifying (for example, Sergio 'ducking' him. It just made no sense at all for Martinez in 2013).
Also, your post is well researched, but you basically summarized all the popular articles/videos (for example 'lost art of shifting' is straight off youtube). You want to get some real appreciation for Golovkin's style and skill that vast majority of the people do not realize? Try this
I actually got it from reading Dempsey's book, not Youtube. My grandfather told me to read it when I was younger and was doing amateur boxing.
Sergio ducked GGG, he took fights against way lesser opposition. To say fighting GGG didn't make sense but guys like Macklin and Murray did? Why because GGG was a steeper challenge and Sergio didn't want to risk losing? Then people criticize Golovkin for not having fought guys like Martinez. It's a catch 22, and while politics have always existed in boxing it's getting worse and ducking is being more and more condoned by the fans ontop of it.
As for Golovkins weight, in different fights he's weighed in different amounts but 165, or 170...is not terribly relevant my point is just Canelo is saying he needs to get bigger and grow into the MW division when he weighs more naturally and during the night of the fight than Golovkin does.
I intentionally tried to simplify a lot of things because the goal was to avoid an excessively long wall of text ( and I failed still). I agree that sparring is just sparring, and should not be used as any real kind of barometer for what would happen in an actual fight. My point is just to people who constantly discredit and question who Golovkin has beaten, he has sparred tons of greats and is notorious for being a handful for every single one of them in sparring.
All this Rousey beating up men even bigger than her is laughable when she won't even beat TJ Dillashaw. The Men's 135 pound UFC champion.
But TJ Dillashaw would kill Floyd Mayweather, even standing...8 point striking gets you a lot further than boxing, guys like Andy Risitie would leave your heroes like Pacquiao, Broner, Thurman etc in body bags. Before you try to make an uneducated response (any of you) first realize you can't compare "boxing" to the punchers in Muay Thai or MMA or boxing, for instance Mark Hunt primarily throws his hands but he's spent a life time training against and for men who move differently...He knows how to counter kicks and knees and elbows, how to block, conditioned to take the damage. He understands the movement and timing of a guy with a Kyokushin base and their movement...Floyd is just a boxer, Rousey is way bigger than him in actuality (broads a heffer) odds are pretty good she gets a hold of Floyd, he's dead...just like that.
So, she is going to do something that Hall of Fame boxers have never been able to do? Get in close to Floyd without eating any punches and even if she did, she would walk through them and just fling him around?
Really?
She can have a basic grasp all she wants, she'd be in the ring/cage whatever, with a legend......
Why am I even entertaining this?
Umm, boxers can probably take Floyd down and beat his ass but it's not part of the rules guys have clinched up with him without being hit too. **** kickboxers could knock his ass out too. I don't get your argument,there's a decent chance Floyd stings her and puts her away before she ever closes the distance, there's also a chance she gets ahold of him while still half conscious and rag dolls him into submission. She's about 170lbs or more naturally, she's a Judoka bronze medalist, she's worked with men's Olympic gold judokas and world class freestyle wrestlers for years. I don't find it ludicrous she could get a hold of Floyd before being knocked out and submit him. Sorry.
A Boxer....... who is a Master at being able to keep space between him and his opponent with not only his fists but also his feet, is just going to allow a woman to just walk up to him and grab him?
Sure............ I'd love to know why Floyd wouldn't throw a punch.... or two...... or three? :rofl:
A woman? I thought she was a Judoka master and a world champion in mixed martial arts. If I had to bet a kidney, I'm not sure who I'd put it on honestly but there's a reasonable chance Rousey throws Floyd overhead and mangles him before he can knock her out. Especially in a closed environment like a ring or cage.
Boxing fans typically aren't educated at all with martial arts or mixed martial arts where as MMA fans at least have a basic grasp on boxing, if not are as much boxing fans and educated like you and I.
Boxing is Sport, these men are the best boxers in the world. The mystique that they are the best fighters or even strikers in the world is so beyond dead it's time to accept that.
This a BS comment...mabye other guys have done it, but ward wanted ggg prime..ward is going to kov prime...wilder is in the first year of his title run...he hasnt been in line for klit fight, and when they did offer it the man was basically still a sparring partner
Wilders title is the equivalent of you giving a girl a ringpop and telling her it's a 3 carat diamond ring. He was awarded a fake title and has avoided any real heavyweight challenges while talking about how he will beat an old man Klitchko. And the Truth is, he probably will be given his way, he's an American...He won't have to fight Povektin, Chagaev or anyone like that and he will be given his golden opportunity vs Klitchko at his leisure and who knows he might even win, he's the great black hope. ;)