The Penalty For Being Too Good (Rigondeaux, Golovkin, Ward)

[Irony123]

That's hilarious. But there is no way Barker would have won that fight. These dudes won't step into the ring with you unless they believe they can beat you.

More fights would happen, if fighters and their teams felt they could win.

yeah true... i wish everyone had Hopkins's self belief. as much as i hated his fighting style during his later years he was never shy of fighting the best and his resume speaks for itself. Even now he is perusing Stevenson and Golovkin... even though he should be perusing retirement.

[therealpugilist]

Ward would have been the favorite but GGG has a few skills that would give Ward trouble. 1) He is a good counter puncher who tries to take away your jab so if Ward was fighting from the outside he will get cought with counters. 2) GGG is good at controlling distance, just like Ward is, both man would have tried to fight at their most comfortable distance. 3) As strong as Ward is i think GGG is a better offensive fighter who would try and trap Ward and punish him to the body. If GGG was just a head hunter i would give him very little chance to beat Ward, but he is a vicious body puncher. 4) dare i say GGG has a better Jab... Ward has longer reach however so jab might be difficult to land for GGG but overall for his size his Jab is p4p one of the best in the business.

Win or lose i think GGG gives Ward the hardest fight of his career up to this point.

a) who has GGG fought that has a versatile jab....traditional jab, up jab, jab to the body, counter jab etc...and thats just one punch

b) Both have good footwork but Ward knows when to work, tie up, spin out...once GGG gets inside he doesnt move his head when he isnt working and thats not good on the inside

c)Ward isnt going to sit still long enough to take those body shots and GGG would be making himself susceptible to his jabs and counters working his way inside, which actually benefits ward

d) sorry, I cant agree with GGG having a better jab....Ward has a more varied jab and has unarmed better fighers with his own jab

we can agree to disagree....I respect GGG as a fighter doesnt belong in the same ring with Ward, he has little chance of winning IMO

[-PBP-]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and in boxing promotions that means imitating FM's stellar career. Floyd gamed the system. He knew who to fight and when to fight them.
Towards the end of his career it was all about Floyd's undefeated record and it was a great niche because lots of fans put down their money to see him lose.
FM made millions but so did Nevada and the boxing establishment.
So that's the blueprint, only fight guys you're sure you can beat, protect the 0 at all costs and wait for the mega fights.
The problem is the blueprint rules out great fights and great rivalries but hey, you can't have everything.

The problem is they are trying to create a Money Mayweather without putting them through the Pretty Boy Floyd gauntlet.

Floyd at 17-0 fought for the lineal title at 130. Defended that title against Diego Corrales, a top 8 pound for pound fighter. In his first fight at 135, fought Jose Luis Castillo, the #1 guy in the division.

Despite dominating in the ring, he wasn't selling tickets. So despite being superior to Gatti, he accepted the role as the B-side, went into his backyard and beat the hell out of him to raise his name value. He then moved up in weight to fight Oscar De La Hoya, giving him every advantage he asked for. It wasn't until after that till he began acting like a diva.

You can only fool people for so long but if your trying to build a star and not running him through the gauntlet, he will be exposed one day.

[Irony123]

a) who has GGG fought that has a versatile jab....traditional jab, up jab, jab to the body, counter jab etc...and thats just one punch

b) Both have good footwork but Ward knows when to work, tie up, spin out...once GGG gets inside he doesnt move his head when he isnt working and thats not good on the inside

c)Ward isnt going to sit still long enough to take those body shots and GGG would be making himself susceptible to his jabs and counters working his way inside, which actually benefits ward

d) sorry, I cant agree with GGG having a better jab....Ward has a more varied jab and has unarmed better fighers with his own jab

we can agree to disagree....I respect GGG as a fighter doesnt belong in the same ring with Ward, he has little chance of winning IMO

Fair enough,

what's your take on Ward vs Kovalev.

[Irony123]

The problem is they are trying to create a Money Mayweather without putting them through the Pretty Boy Floyd gauntlet.

Floyd at 17-0 fought for the lineal title at 130. Defended that title against Diego Corrales, a top 8 pound for pound fighter. In his first fight at 135, fought Jose Luis Castillo, the #1 guy in the division.

Despite dominating in the ring, he wasn't selling tickets. So despite being superior to Gatti, he accepted the role as the B-side, went into his backyard and beat the hell out of him to raise his name value. He then moved up in weight to fight Oscar De La Hoya, giving him every advantage he asked for. It wasn't until after that till he began acting like a diva.

You can only fool people for so long but if your trying to build a star and not running him through the gauntlet, he will be exposed one day.

I wonder if Canelo is GGG's Delahoya.

[-PBP-]

I wonder if Canelo is GGG's Delahoya.

At age 34 it will probably be the biggest fight of his career. The question is whether it will happen on time or will Oscar wait until he starts to see slippage. I tend to give Canelo the benefit of the doubt and think he is just posturing at the moment. But we'll see after this Khan fight what happens.

[The Big Dunn]

At age 34 it will probably be the biggest fight of his career. The question is whether it will happen on time or will Oscar wait until he starts to see slippage. I tend to give Canelo the benefit of the doubt and think he is just posturing at the moment. But we'll see after this Khan fight what happens.

I think this article, albeit about MMA, is what you are talking about.

http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/14891358/conor-mcgregor-continues-push-envelope

[-PBP-]

I think this article, albeit about MMA, is what you are talking about.

http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/14...-push-envelope

Right! Kind of funny too because I'm probably going to DVR boxing for MMA this weekend for the first time ever.

[The Big Dunn]

Right! Kind of funny too because I'm probably going to DVR boxing for MMA this weekend for the first time ever.

Last week I DVR'd both fights and watched OKC v GS. when the undercard of SHhwtime's card is the best fight of the weekend, one tends to DVR/tape the fights.

[sicko]

Before the Canelo vs. GGG scenario, have you ever seen two fighters who fight in the same weight class do a catchweight?

GGG and Ward are two different divisions, meeting in the middle to metigate the risk for the smaller fighter happens often.

Canelo is a middleweight, as much as he doesn't like to admit it and even his demand isn't to meet in the middle it is to meet at his own weight that he comes in. Had GGG told Ward to meet him at 160 or 161 i would say that is a ***** move, at 164... i dont like it but i understand it... and that is the major difference between the two scenarios... also the fact that Ward is bigger overall with reach and height advantage compared to GGG vs. Canelo where both guys are pretty much the same size (i think GGG is a bit taller).

Yeah but again that is fans making exceptions based on who they LIKE. Fans are not consistent so why should promoters or fighters be? That situation is really no different other than the fact that Canelo holds a title in the Middleweight Division. The only reason why he has the title is because Cotto had the title. Cotto vs Canelo was negotiated while both was at 154 as well so in their case, their fight was BIGGER than the WBC Middleweight Title. They did not need that title to be involved for it to be a big fight!

Fans have to ask themselves WTF do we really want, do we want to see Canelo vs GGG because it is a good match up or is it just about that WBC Title? By the way again not to defend Canelo because I don't agree with what him and Oscar are doing, I've posted plenty of times why not just drop the belt, move down 1 lbs and fight for the Vacant 154 WBC Title