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chris john = the poor mans donaire
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I thought he was called "The Dragon"?
edit: just went on boxrec. Apparently he's "The Tiger/The Dragon" lol.Comment
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So Hagler presumably wasn't much of a fighter in your opinion. After all, he spent most of his career hiding in the USA, and not only did he never compete in a higher weight class than the one he started in, almost all of his most notable wins were against fighters from lower weight classes who moved up to fight him.
Whether you can move up weights successfully depends on your frame. Some great fighters had a frame that allowed them to gain weight without losing speed and power; others such as Hagler didn't. That has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not they are great fighters. (Another example of an all time great fighter who was unable to move up successfully to a higher weight division is Bob Foster, who was a complete failure at Heavyweight, but is generally regarded as one of the top 5 Light Heavyweights of all time).
And many great fighters never fought outside their country as a pro, Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins being obvious examples. Hagler only fought outside his country twice, once in order to win the Middleweight title, and only once in a defence, which was against a nobody. So presumably you don't rate Hagler or Jones or Hopkins highly.
Most of the time, the reason fighters fight on home turf is simply money. In John's case, except when HBO is prepared to screen his fights, as they did for the Juarez fight, his fights will always make far more money in Indonesia, where he has a big fan base, than they would make anywhere else. Money has always talked in boxing, and you can't rationally blame the fighter for that. And John has fought outside his country a lot more often than Hagler, Jones or Hopkins did.
The reason why Pacquiao is able to fight in the US is that his style is exciting enough for him to make big money doing so - but he's the exception that proves the rule. John's style isn't exciting to most American fans, so unless his has a big name opponent such as Juarez or Gamboa, his fights will not be financially viable outside Indonesia. But that has nothing to do with whether he is a good fighter or not.
As for the poster who said Juarez is John's equivalent to Lacy, that's a silly analogy. If John fights and beats Gamboa, and if he does it in style, that would be roughly equivalent to Calzaghe's win over Lacy. If John then goes on to beat Lopez convincingly, that would be roughly equivalent to Calzaghe's win over Kessler.Last edited by Dave Rado; 12-05-2010, 02:51 PM.Comment
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Tiger? I thought they call him Dragon. never mind
Gamboa is next!Comment
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Chris John is good. Cant wait to see a Juanma Lopez/john fight
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