Dissecting Golovkin's MW Reign

[HeroBando]

Laughable. The man whose made his name fighting the very best in the world isn't scared of a man whose made his name fighting cab drivers.

I'll take your word for it. Actually maybe not, Carls words probably carry more weight on this

[jas]

bernard hopkins has called out ggg on more than one occasion

why doesnt ggg or his team ever mention hopkins?

[kiaba360]

A lot of people don't seem to realise how much he was screwed over in the early part of his pro career. This all could have came much sooner for him if it wasn't for that,

In legacy terms, I think it's in his best interest to pursue a fight with the Cotto-Canelo winner next year. If he goes to 168 first and loses, you will have critics claiming that he was never truly the best at 160 either. He needs to underline his middleweight run with that one high profile win.

But not at all costs either. Froch, Jr, and Ward are available at 168 in the near future. But come 2016 it's possible that none of them will be, and 168 will be a wasteland. If he can't get the shot at the lineage at 160 next year, then it would be better to move up sooner rather than later.

He's not a big middleweight, but there's little to gain in another 12 months of wins over Macklins or Rubios. He's done enough of that.

He's accomplished the unlikely feat of gaining huge momentum in the US as a non-English speaking Kazakh fighter. But as Kellerman rightly pointed out, he's past that now. He should know by next summer if Cotto/Canelo is a go or not. If it is, great. If not, time to look elsewhere for a big name.

He should test out 168 in his next fight if possible. Maybe a relatively safe opponent like Edwards (who beat Jack) and Medina (who beat Love) to see how his power and punch resistance carries up. If he does well, and he can't get a good MW match-up, then he should try to go after Chavez Jr./Bika/Froch. Ward is the top of the food-chain, he needs to get through the lower level first.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

I'll take your word for it. Actually maybe not, Carls words probably carry more weight on this

You're hanging onto what Froch said in jest at that Facebook chat thing with Groves? Really? Wow....Golovkin fans really don't have much to celebrate, do they?

[NEETzsche]

He should test out 168 in his next fight if possible. Maybe a relatively safe opponent like Edwards (who beat Jack) and Medina (who beat Love) to see how his power and punch resistance carries up. If he does well, and he can't get a good MW match-up, then he should try to go after Chavez Jr./Bika/Froch.

yo-yoing in weight is never good for a fighter. when he moves up he'll have to abandon the prospect of facing alvarez/cotto, which is why he has to hang around for at least another half year

bernard hopkins has called out ggg on more than one occasion

why doesnt ggg or his team ever mention hopkins?

because he's two divisions above him? hopkins also called out mayweather not long ago, he's just self-promoting

[Eastcoast]

To be fair, people saying Golovkin needs to move up to 168 to prove he's a great MW - keep in mind Hopkins & Hagler defined their MW greatness with a string of wins over great JMW's and solid not spectacular MW's.

The quality of Golovkin's reign at MW is very much on par with Hopkins at that age and # of title fights. Nard won the title at age 30 in his 30th fight against Mercado who was very much on par with Milton Nunez, and by age 34 had 7 defenses highlighted by past prime former JMW's JDJ (coming off a decision loss to a 9-6 fighter and brutal TKO in last real fight) and Simon Brown, tough but limited MW contender Andrew Council, and a very green Glenn Johnson. Not bringing this up to say Golovkin's achieved this status, just that he's on a very similar trajectory.

[Luilun]

Now, I want a proper BOXING discussion, none of this fan boy crap where some people just think GGG is God and will not debate or discuss beyond that point or idiotic haters who can't see beyond racial, ethnic etc hatred.

Now I confess, I didn't know much about GGG before his Proksa fight some 2 years ago, however I did know he was this big central Asian puncher with dynamite in both hands. What I was not prepared for was just how good he was in terms of all round ability, something that just can't be denied. He moves well, can cut off the ring, know when to throw punches and how many of them he needs to throw, rather than falling in love with his power and getting wild (see Jackson, McClelan, Benn etc).

Having said all that, GGG has equaled Hagler's record of 12 title defences...and that's sad because Hagler's run as champion was so far superior that it's almost laughable that these two fighters, one a certified ATG and the other a champion who has only just started working his way into the upper echelons of the MW division, should ever be compared. But they will be. It's the way of the boxing press, to start calling for historical comparisons where there are none.

He won his "championship" after Sturm was promoted to the ridiculous WBA super champion status and he won it off of a career light middleweight. But that is the way of many modern champions, however, since then, he has fought other career light middleweights, has-beens and guys who should never have gotten a title shot. Along the way he's picked up the ridiculous IBo belt.

Since his arrival on HBO some two years ago, he has had 8 bouts, only 2 of which have come against legitimate contenders, those being Geale (former champ) and Macklin. Were Rosado and Ishida really worthy of title defences? Was Curtis Stevens, who was on the rebound of a once promising career more worthy than say...N'Jikam? That's a fight that was available and still is.

I know QUillin doesn't look like he has the balls to face anyone with a pulse and the timing for Martinez was all wrong. It's a weak reign by a dominant fighter. The Cotto fight may happen but I think GGG needs to step it up and take no **** from his promotional team, get him Murray, N'Jikam, take a massive pay cut for Cotto, move up to 168 for Ward/Froch and not Junior.

This is what I think anyway.

During Hagglers run you didn't have a bunch a wussy's like Mayweather and Quillens running scared *****less of a fighter with power or trying to make punchers use pillow gloves

[HeroBando]

You're hanging onto what Froch said in jest at that Facebook chat thing with Groves? Really? Wow....Golovkin fans really don't have much to celebrate, do they?

Which he reiterated in boxing news. Just so nobody gets the wrong idea

[SkillspayBills]

On this site too many users put 3 facets above everything else:
1.Power
2.Race
3.Nationality.
They put these things over everything else and that's why too many fighters get overrated. GGG isn't that case. He isn't just power. His balance has to be god given, he never wastes punches, he cuts off the ring expertly, he has solid defense and head movement as well (as aggressive as he is of course he gets hit a bit). GGG just has to have the resume to match his skill, and he will, they will have to respect him.

[kiaba360]

yo-yoing in weight is never good for a fighter. when he moves up he'll have to abandon the prospect of facing alvarez/cotto, which is why he has to hang around for at least another half year


because he's two divisions above him? hopkins also called out mayweather not long ago, he's just self-promoting

It depends on how much weight he's gaining. If he's 161-162lb at the weigh-in, then I think he'll be ok. If he's weighing in at 168lb limit, then maybe it'll be harder for him to go back down.