Comments Thread For: Golovkin vs. Saunders Negotiations To Move Forward

[kafkod]

It's not so much about raising his profile. It's more about eliminating other "champions" who don't want to fight him. Unification means GGG owns the MW division. Every other fighter at 160 or coming up from 154 will have to go through GGG. There will be no more ducking.

Holding just one world title makes a boxer more marketable, that's why BJS didn't bite Loeffler's hand off when he was offered 5x more than his highest ever purse to fight GGG.

Being a unified champ, holding more than one belt, increases marketability even more. There are no undisputed champions in boxing right now. GGG and Kovalev both know that unifying their divisions will raise their profiles with casual fans and increase their fan bases and purses.

That's why winning and retaining belts is a priority for fighters like them, and worth doing, even if it means paying multiple sanctioning fees to the alphabet orgs.

[OnePunch]

I remember when there was a day when a brash young fighter would do anything to get a chance to fight the main man in a division. It was all about the hunger and desire to be the best.

Now look how it evolved...LOL

lots of things in boxing are "evolving" for the worse.

Remember when a catchweight was only to facilitate 2 guys from different divisions meeting somewhere in the middle? Now days catchweights are used in title unifications and mandatory defenses just to try and weaken an opponent.....

[kafkod]

You completely missed my point. My point is that GGG os puttting the cart before the horse. He seems to be maneuvering himself to become a crossover star. And he hasn't even captured the hardcore market yet. Boxing hasn't fallen off that much in the last decade or so.And its proven that a fight the hardcore community is completely into, with little to no mainstream interest, can do about 300K-350K PPV buys. GGG isn't even doing half that. So why not seek out fights that the hardcore community will get 100% behind, like a fight with Ward would have been? That's the way you build negotiating power with a borderline crossover star like Canelo. If GGG had a PPV under his belt with Ward that did 300K+ PPV buys. He would be coming to the table with Canelo with some bargaining power. As it stands now, he has nothing to offer Ginger. He's super high risk, low reward.

You're talking crazy there. The last fight like that, interesting to hard-core fans but not no mainstream interest, was Quillin vs Jacobs. It only did 380k on free to air.

GGG vs Ward would have done no better than GGG vs Lemieux, probably worse, because Andre has fewer fans than Lemieux and, as you rightly say, there would have been no mainstream interest in it.

[b00g13man]

Casual fans don't know GGG either.

Looool. I know right?

[hitking]

You're talking crazy there. The last fight like that, interesting to hard-core fans but not no mainstream interest, was Quillin vs Jacobs. It only did 380k on free to air.

GGG vs Ward would have done no better than GGG vs Lemieux, probably worse, because Andre has fewer fans than Lemieux and, as you rightly say, there would have been no mainstream interest in it.

Quillen-Jacobs isn't a superfight, Ward-GGG is. There isn't a hardcore fight fan on the planet that wouldn't order Ward-GGG. There's a ****load of hardcore fans that passed on GGG-Lemieux. You keep thinking that the only people that order fights are fans of a particular fighter. There's a lotta people that order great fights without having a rooting interest. Ward-GGG easily doubles GGG-Lemieux, probably triples it.

[hitking]

I think Canelo's pride is being sold short in a lot of posts. I believe he wants the Golovkin fight. There are examples of Canelo taking ill-advised fights over the last couple of years, I don't think this is very different.

I think we will see it, when and under what circumstances who can say? But I think we'll see the fight. Canelo moving to 160 is inevitable, and if GGG doesn't move up- which isn't looking likely as they continue to push unification- it's going to reach a fever pitch.

Canelo's pride has trumped his management's desires before. Not to mention he could potentially beat GGG.

I agree. And personally, I don't consider Canelo an overwhelming underdog against GGG. He's gonna fight him. But he's also gonna play the mental game with him in negotiations to gain every mental and physical edge he can. He's the A-side. That's his right.

[kafkod]

Quillen-Jacobs isn't a superfight, Ward-GGG is. There isn't a hardcore fight fan on the planet that wouldn't order Ward-GGG. There's a ****load of hardcore fans that passed on GGG-Lemieux. You keep thinking that the only people that order fights are fans of a particular fighter. There's a lotta people that order great fights without having a rooting interest. Ward-GGG easily doubles GGG-Lemieux, probably triples it.

No way on earth mate! How many hard-core fans are there in the USA who buy PPV instead of going to a streaming site?

It's casual fans who make big PPV fights, not us hard-core types.

When GGG and Ward had their now famous meeting with HBO, they were both told that a fight between them wouldn't be big enough for PPV.

GGG has certainly boosted his own profile and fan base since then. Ward has only just started to get going

[hitking]

No way on earth mate! How many hard-core fans are there in the USA who buy PPV instead of going to a streaming site?

It's casual fans who make big PPV fights, not us hard-core types.

When GGG and Ward had their now famous meeting with HBO, they were both told that a fight between them wouldn't be big enough for PPV.

GGG has certainly boosted his own profile and fan base since then. Ward has only just started to get going

You think Ward-Kovalev outdoes GGG-Lemieu???

[bug0092]

If the Canelo fight doesn't get done and Ginger is stripped, making GGG the BC champ. Then he beats Saunders for the BO and is "undisputed." And Nelo is still there between 154 and 160. Do you think other fighters' main middleweight target will be GGG, for all the belts? Or Canelo, for a bigger payday?

A few points...GGG looks like he can sit comfortably at MW for the rest of his career if he chooses. Canelo won't be able to fight at sub 160 much longer. He can't make 154 effectively anymore so he won't be champ at junior. If GGG holds all the MW straps including the WBC one Canelo hands over, Canelo will be titleless for as long as he refuses to fight GGG. I don't think that'll sit well with him.

As for opponents, sure, most will take the easier guy for the bigger payday. But eventually the best contenders at MW (and coming up from JMW) will become mandatories to one of the titles GGG holds. What are they going to do, avoid those fights, too?

[bug0092]

Holding just one world title makes a boxer more marketable, that's why BJS didn't bite Loeffler's hand off when he was offered 5x more than his highest ever purse to fight GGG.

Being a unified champ, holding more than one belt, increases marketability even more. There are no undisputed champions in boxing right now. GGG and Kovalev both know that unifying their divisions will raise their profiles with casual fans and increase their fan bases and purses.

That's why winning and retaining belts is a priority for fighters like them, and worth doing, even if it means paying multiple sanctioning fees to the alphabet orgs.

I don't disagree, but there's a ceiling to what a belt can add to a fighter's marketability. At some point, as in GGG's case, it comes down to getting the right guys in the ring (Martinez/Quillen/Cotto/Canelo). His titles haven't gotten it done for him so far. As long as others can parade around as some sort of MW "champ" they have no reason to take a risky fight with him and likely lose the one thing that makes them more marketable (like you said BJS). Lemieux was offered a very generous split and took the money (and the heat off Canelo). GBP knew they were cashing out. BJS, if he's even serious, appears to want much more for his trouble. If GGG unifies, no one can avoid him unless they're content to never fight for a title or even take a fight that puts them in a mandatory position to face GGG for one of the titles. In that case, what becomes of the MW division? A bunch of guys avoiding other guys so they don't become GGG's mandatory?