Watchfire

Just gonna throw in my two cents here. Geale is potentially the toughest contender that Golovkin has faced and IS elite level unless you only define elite level as the top three in the division. People who talk about GGG having to fight Ward immediately are being a little tough on the dude. When you jump up a weight class you should at least do a tune up fight unless your talking about facing a faded or paper champion this is definitely not the description of Andre. I see Geale as a great opponent for GGG stylistically also, doesn't back up has good combinations and a great chin. He could be the first guy to give him trouble, although I'm thinking corner stoppage or TKO around round 4.

He really needs to give Fury the fight he deserves. It sucks the way it went down with the injuries and all but that would have been a huge fight for the brits and a lot of money for Fury. It's the only fair thing to do.

I would watch all the fab four fights between Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler. Those are what got me into it.

No Order pulled out of my bum Thomas Hearns Mike Mccallum Muhammad Ali Sugar Ray Robinson Joe Frazier Roy Jones Tommy Morrison (I know I know, I love his style though) Floyd Patterson Marvin Hagler Mike Tyson

Pick one fighter and watch all his fights. As you go through his fights, you will learn about his opponents and you may become a fan of one of them. Then watch the opponents fights. Then continue that process and before you know it, you will have seen tons of fight footage and have a list of favorites. Do that across several divisions. That way you learn about who was ranked where, what styles gave which fighter problems, who held what title, who the players were at the time, etc etc THIS... My real introduction to boxing was when I did this with Thomas Hearns. Before that I had just seen my dad watching the fights and grown up watching Tyson.

Kostya Tszyu. His "Jesus" duties out there in Australia left little time for work itself as things turned out. Good point didn't know which one the OP meant. I feel like Bradley gets lazy in the ring quite often, or rather discouraged.

Fury, Look at the shape he was in for Haye then, when that never happened, he just fattened right back up. Guys who say that they aren't in shape because they don't have to be for this or that opponent are lazy and destined for short careers.

Financial security is one thing but when you've made enough money to ensure the welfare of several generations I don't think that argument works anymore. I for one don't agree with the lifestyles that make these dudes bankrupt. I would like to see an international boxing league with one belt and a tiered pay cap. No one and I mean no one needs to make over thirty million a year. Thats just ridiculous. The reason anyone is broke after all of that is just pure stupidity. They live like they'll never have to pay taxes, and don't think about retirement. Its not about anyone being comfortable to me its about the sport taking care of itself and making sure that its sorted out in the pages of history.

I hear you man. Thing is, in yesteryear, the promoters had a lot more control over the fights than they do now (they used to make a lot more money than the fighters) so they could press or dictate certain fights to take place. The fighters have lots more control now, so it makes sense that they want to take care of their money situation - nothing wrong in that. So, I think in 2014 the most we can expect and demand is that fighters take a mix of who pays the most, and who means the most (a 50:50 risk:reward ratio). Sorta like what Cotto, Bradley, Froch, Malignagni, Khan etc do. These guys will take the hard challenges all day, but these hard challenges will be accompanied with good paydays. Fighters like Floyd and Ward suck because its all about getting it as close to 0% risk and 100% reward as they possibly can and we can and do deride that. Thats about all I can hope for I guess, well said.

If I had to pick one trait I'd say chin. No great ever got by on a glass chin. Almost all of the ATGs have chins of granite. Wlad has a so so chin and I'm still waiting for him to fight someone who he can't keep at bay with his reach and height, as much as I enjoy his technique and gentlemanly attitude outside the ring.

Pacquiao seems like he's gotten lazy. He just lucky he's a small guy so he doesn't really have to worry about making weight. I don't think he's lazy in training I think he's just gotten really cautious since the knockout. He seems to ease back on the gas pedal and coast through his fights, he's been doing that for a bit.

I was suprised that this post took off as much as it did, not that its that popular but usually in this forum unless your talking about boxer A is such and such, then the post doesn't get this much response. Thank you all for your input but scale down the hate a little why don't ya? :smashfrea I didn't mean that I hate technical or slick boxers (and btw I think slicksters is a stupid term too I just felt it would make the title shorter) I meant that I hate guys who run around and sacrifice speed for power to throw basically speed shots with no power. One user put it perfectly. "imagine ray leonard throwing pitty pat punches all night while on the move, and he has real speed remember that, he'd be harder to catch than normal, likely would never tire, but it would be a shameful display, and extremely boring unless the opponent sparked him, this pitty pat stuff that many fighters are coming out with in todays boxing is embarrassing and it's purely defensive, literally all they have done is found a way to be completely on the defensive whilst scoring points " Im sorry I don't know how to quote on this site, I'm new. Ray Leonard, Ali, even the great Willie Pep (who had a LOW KO percentage) they were all extremely slick/ won on points a lot and you know what makes their fights more exciting to watch was the fact that they still tried to take it to their opponent, they threw leveraged shots at least every now and then. I don't want to see everyone brawl, I don't want to see two fighters stuck in cement. I want to see people get that old mentality back. The truth is the only warrior who exist now are mostly brawlers all the guys who have the skill set to not commit to shots and use speed to win while barely giving their opponent a headache do so. I think judge's should at least take damage into consideration because I think they seem to not even notice it, this isn't amateur (btw to who ever said to bring in headgear to make boxing more technical studies have shown that at an elite level head gear actually contributes to more knockouts than it stops 2016 olympics is set to have no headgear). I did not post this thread in response to the Algieri vs. Provo decision like a lot of people seem to believe. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for the responses guys.

Also here's a quick list of guys who could have employed this style but didn't in favor of actually FIGHTING even if they did win on decision quite often and used it as a strategy. (said some of these before) Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Mike MCcallum, Thomas Hearns , Willie Pep, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, and Benny Leonard. These are also most of my favorite fighters. I've never been a huge fan of brawlers although I do have a soft spot for a few. Granted a lot of these guys have real POWER but if they had focused on the aspects of the game that modern boxers do they wouldn't have nearly the knockout percentages that they do and would probably have less losses. Just putting this out there for the running accusation in this thread that I somehow don't appreciate technical boxing or that these people whom I discussing are somehow the height of technical perfection. (Also whats up with all this alt talk, and why do people seem smugly insulting when they bring it up? )

Agreed friend. I agree on all the fights besides Wilder vs Wlad. I think Wilder should fight Stiverne and Fury or Chisora first simply because him going straight to Wlad is exactly whats wrong with things right now. Formula goes like this. Exciting fighter fights tons of bums, then on "credible opponent" at the bottom of the top 10 then gets a shot at the title. If they lose then their real career begins. If they win then they start ducking everyone as long as they can and maybe even give up the belt to continue fighting fringe contenders.

many of the brits are arm punchers. their trainers rarely train guys to address the target with their knuckles, or to sit down on punches and get power with their legs. you can also blame athleticism for that, as many of the british fighters are freaking plebs. an athletic / explosive kid will walk into the gym already understanding what he needs to do to punch hard. Good point, I do see the Euros doing it more often. I wonder if it has something to do with the amateur scene as well. Guys from Euro countries have such long Amateur careers sometimes and in that setting the shorter but faster punches pay off more so maybe its just habit.

Fun discussion as usual, I missed a lot. Malignaggi was a great example. I know a lot of people don't agree with my view of Lomo but I think that whoever said he was probably using an amateur mindset was right. It just seems weird to see him using so little torque the majority of the time. I understand its a strategy. I think if he got some more torque on it he'd be a mean puncher though. I'd like to point out I wasn't saying he never gets any power on them.

lol. studies, you say? headgear diminishes the impact of punches. it spreads the area of impact, and slows down the rate of deceleration. don't spar without it. Nah, believe it or not its true. I know it seems counter intuitive. The Knockout is caused by the force of the mass of your head moving jarring your brain, the headgear raises the weight of your head and thusly causes more brain injury when it is moved. The study he's referring to found that at the elite level fighters with head gear were more often concussed than fighters without it. Word is that the next olympic games they'll be ditching the headgear because of this. Headgear mostly protects against cuts and bruises. So it feels like it hurts less when your boxing which leads to the feeling that your being damaged less when in reality your brain is taking more of a beating.

I honestly believe that MMA is more popular than boxing in most circles. Comparing boxing PPV numbers to MMA is impossible because the middle aged crowd watches boxing and they pay for the stuff. The average young guy is used to getting all media for free and will hunt down every MMA fight on some internet streaming service/ also isn't as obsessed with seeing something "live". If you look at news coverage MMA gets much more than boxing barring a Mayweather, or Pacuiao outing. MMA merchandising is bigger, and the stars are generally better known unless your comparing them to boxing's few superstars. Half the people I talked to on the street about Mayweather v. Maidana couldn't name Maidana but knew Floyd had a fight. I bet you more people know who Roy Nelson is and he is a middling fighter in a weak division. Not coming from a place of hate. I love MMA and Boxing but am predominantly a boxing fan.

I hope it happens and I hope it forces Provo to work on his fundamentals. He has a lot of potential if he would work on the more technical aspects of his game.