"Daring to Be Great" Has an Expensive Pricetag and it Always Has

[The Big Dunn]

LOL, solid point, but Khan wasn't a part of that end of the decision.



I don't believe this for a second. For all the things I & others can dog & have dogged Khan about his belief in his own abilities has never really been lacking. I definitely feel like Khan knew this was a risky fight & he had to hear all the people talking about how little chance they felt he had, but I firmly believe he walked into that ring feeling like he could win.

And I thought he fought like he could win. I had him winning the fight (3-2) at the time of the KO. And if he had a little less confidence & not have gotten closer & closer to Canelo in the 5th & 6th round we might all be *****ing about the judges giving Canelo another sketchy decision this week.

Fighters that take fights like this don't think they can win IMO. This was like shannon briggs wanting to fight wlad or salka signing to fight Danny. The odds are just too lopsided to think they are trying to win.

Team Khan knows how the game is played. There is not a single fight in the world he'd get $10 mil plus for. Add to that, his chin and lack of defense are tailor made for Canelo.

Hunter, khan and his dad had to look at the tape(s) and know this was not a good fight for Canelo to take. Hunter for sure.

I understand your point and I am not posting this just to sh-t on amir.

This was the equivalent of suicide by cop.

[MrRolltide91]

Good thread op

[MrRolltide91]

Every day you hear "today's fighters don't dare to be great like the fighters of the past." In some cases that may be true. But what people fail to realize is that, yes these old school fighters dared to be great, but they were compensated HEAVILY for taking on such risks. Let's take a look at how some of these fighters of the past were rewarded for "Daring to Be Great".

Common examples that are used where a smaller fighter moves up in weight:

1. Duran made $1.5 million, by far his biggest payday ever in his first fight with Leonard. $8 million for an immediate rematch.

2. Leonard made $12 million in his fight against Marvin Hagler at 160.

3. Pacquiao made $11 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

4. Mayweather made:

-$25 million to fight Oscar De La Hoya
-$32 million to fight Miguel Cotto
-$mega trillion gazillion to fight Canelo

5. Marquez made $3.2 million to fight Mayweather, $5 million to move up and fight Pacquiao

6. Roy Jones made $10 million to fight John Ruiz

7. Amir Khan made $13 million to fight Canelo

8. Shane Mosley made $4.5 million plus to fight Oscar De La Hoya

9. Cotto made $7 million to fight Martinez

10. B-Hop made $5 million to fight Tarver


Very rarely do you see a guy "daring to be great" without making millions upon millions of dollars. So be careful when you criticize "X fighter" for not "moving up like my favorite fighter of the past" when your favorite fighter was compensated greatly for taking on such a risk.

Aren't better examples of "daring to be great" like Rigondeaux unifying a division in 12 fights, Lomachenko fighting for a world title in 2 fights, Pacquiao going after Barrera in his first test at 126, etc. etc.??? And what goes unnoticed is the failures (e.g. every over-matched Golovkin opponent that could have gone another route but wanted a shot at the best)


The number one argument I see coming is:

C'mon PBP. Every guy you listed was a proven, elite fighter that earned the right to those paydays.

My counter to that is:

How did they become proven, elite fighters in the first place? They became proven, elite fighters by beating the best fighters in their division and moving up after they handled their business in each respective division. That's why you need to be patient and let these current fighters build their resumes by knocking off the top fighters in their divisions before asking them to "dare to be great."

So daring to be paid instead of daring to be great?

[Johnwoo8686]

Fighters over 35 also require the use of IV's to rehydrate to a weight they walk around at as well. Never knew that until recently lol...

That just goes to show you don't know **** about boxing and are a new age fan. Oscar also used an IV to rehydrate in his fight with Manny Pacquiao back in 2008

[DumpkinsPlus5]

This is a great thread. "Daring to be great" would be fighting tougher opposition for the same or less money as you would lesser opposition.

Example: If Golovkin was chasing Ward instead of Canelo, that would be daring to be great. Significantly tougher opponent for a significantly less payday.

The fact that he's chasing Canelo has nothing to do with how good Canelo is. If he truly wanted a challenge he knows where to go. It's about getting paid and becoming a superstar. If a lesser fighter allows that then so be it. His whole "I want all the belts" shtick Is going old. If that were true, he wouldn't have let Cotto pay him off to have the Canelo fight.

Let's not forget about Golovkin getting a pass from a lot of people for wanting to fight Froch and not Ward. Why because Froch makes more money and "Ward can't sell out his hometown doe."

The Amir Khan situation is tricky because not only was Canelo the biggest payday, but he was a stiffer challenge than any welterweight willing to fight Khan. However, the payday was so huge that most feel this is a case of daring to be paid, because if Canelo was the same fighter with no fan base, Khan ain't fighting him. Not when Kell Brook and Danny Garcia are available.

[j0zef]

Great thread.

[techliam]

Then you must think Floyd takes risks for low money because I'm arguing the entire opposite of what you posted

My entire point is that these are common examples that people use of fighters "daring to be great" when actuality, they took those fights because they got paid a ton of money.

But as usual you come in with your "black poster defends black fighter I need to call him out BS." FOH

Exactly. The money and chances of winning have to be balanced enough to outweigh the risks involved

This is why I don't understand certain posters clamouring constantly for Ward-GGG. I'd love to see the fight, but Golovkin would be a huge underdog. It seems fairly consistent that he'd fight Chavez and Froch at 168 for big paydays, for fairly winnable fights (2nd best Froch at 168 is still a great win and a tough challenge). He never called out anyone else as far as I know, not sure about Ramirez but thats also still a money maker down the line).

If Golovkin was in the same weight class then i'd push for the fight too, but he's not. Boxing isn't about glory anymore, I wish I could change it but I can't, i'd only be disappointed in the end.

[-PBP-]

This is a great thread. "Daring to be great" would be fighting tougher opposition for the same or less money as you would lesser opposition.

Example: If Golovkin was chasing Ward instead of Canelo, that would be daring to be great. Significantly tougher opponent for a significantly less payday.

The fact that he's chasing Canelo has nothing to do with how good Canelo is. If he truly wanted a challenge he knows where to go. It's about getting paid and becoming a superstar. If a lesser fighter allows that then so be it. His whole "I want all the belts" shtick Is going old. If that were true, he wouldn't have let Cotto pay him off to have the Canelo fight.

Let's not forget about Golovkin getting a pass from a lot of people for wanting to fight Froch and not Ward. Why because Froch makes more money and "Ward can't sell out his hometown doe."

The Amir Khan situation is tricky because not only was Canelo the biggest payday, but he was a stiffer challenge than any welterweight willing to fight Khan. However, the payday was so huge that most feel this is a case of daring to be paid, because if Canelo was the same fighter with no fan base, Khan ain't fighting him. Not when Kell Brook and Danny Garcia are available.

For $13 million, every single welterweight would do what Khan did. And it goes as far back to the glory days. None of those fights happen if there weren't millions of dollars around.

The only thing that has changed in boxing is that there is less money floating around and since there is less money, we get less fights between top fighters.

[Tom Cruise]

For $13 million, every single welterweight would do what Khan did. And it goes as far back to the glory days. None of those fights happen if there weren't millions of dollars around.

The only thing that has changed in boxing is that there is less money floating around and since there is less money, we get less fights between top fighters.

Is there less top fights because there is no money, or is there less money because there are less top fights?

Its seems to me big fights still get attention in the media, and big fights still get people paid.

The problem seems to be the kind of fights which fighters and promoters feel are the big fights, really arent. They are actually fights between contenders or bog standard defences which should be the norm.

[MrRolltide91]

This is a great thread. "Daring to be great" would be fighting tougher opposition for the same or less money as you would lesser opposition.

Example: If Golovkin was chasing Ward instead of Canelo, that would be daring to be great. Significantly tougher opponent for a significantly less payday.

The fact that he's chasing Canelo has nothing to do with how good Canelo is. If he truly wanted a challenge he knows where to go. It's about getting paid and becoming a superstar. If a lesser fighter allows that then so be it. His whole "I want all the belts" shtick Is going old. If that were true, he wouldn't have let Cotto pay him off to have the Canelo fight.

Let's not forget about Golovkin getting a pass from a lot of people for wanting to fight Froch and not Ward. Why because Froch makes more money and "Ward can't sell out his hometown doe."

The Amir Khan situation is tricky because not only was Canelo the biggest payday, but he was a stiffer challenge than any welterweight willing to fight Khan. However, the payday was so huge that most feel this is a case of daring to be paid, because if Canelo was the same fighter with no fan base, Khan ain't fighting him. Not when Kell Brook and Danny Garcia are available.

Good points


You don't see khan trying to fight danny jacobs at middleweight


The reward isn't there.