Why do most fans see Roman Gonzalez as a place holder...

[Aztekkas]

For the Ward vs Kovalev winner? I mean, Roman has made a name for himself and his resume is as deep if not deeper than both Ward and Kovalev's. He's also facing a prime, undefeated and bigger champion in Cuadras and didn't take 3 tune up fights at the weight in order to do so. In fact, he jumped on it as soon as he could and skipped all the marinating bs that most fighters tend to love to milk.

Is it because the lower weight divisions aren't as respected? Or is it because Ward is American and most of the sport's analysts and American audience just NEED an American holding down the PFP crown, in order to exert their dominance? I think it's a mixture of both. Personally I think the main reason why Americans don't care for the lower weights is because there are no Americans down there to root for. There is no American elite talent and since they have no one, then that must mean everyone down there sucks.

Anyway, I'm not sure what will happen with the ratings once the dust settles after Kovalev vs Ward is over with. I mean, sure the victor will most likely snatch the PFP title from Roman... But would it be honestly an earned accolade? Or will it be a biased driven decision against the little giant of the sport just to have the torch be carried by a much more formidable man?

[Sugar Adam Ali]

He beats cuadras in convincing fashion, and beats Estrada again, then I think he probably is #1.. If Ward beats Kovolev, going to be very hard not to have andre as #1

[baya]

i got RG number on 1 on my p4p

[ShoulderRoll]

American has nothing to do with it. If Kovalev beats Ward he too deserves to be P4P #1 because it's a better win than any on Roman's resume.

[Aztekkas]

American has nothing to do with it. If Kovalev beats Ward he too deserves to be P4P #1 because it's a better win than any on Roman's resume.

So one win trumps all of Roman's career? That's rather absurd, wouldn't you agree? especially since Ward has done nothing significant in years and Kovalev's most notable wins don't trump Roman's.

[-Kev-]

I respect your opinion on here Aztekkas, but can you elaborate on which names make Gonzalez's resume deep?

I mean not just name names, but also name who those names beat recently that make them worthy of praise. For example, Canelo beat an old Mosley, who obviously has a great resume, but his "great" resume is old, and when Canelo beat him he was not actually "great" anymore

Like Viloria has some good names, and good fights in the past, but when RG fought him I thought he was old. But I still see people naming him as a good win, even though his last good win was really relatively speaking, a long time ago (2012 Hernan Marquez which just decent, not good), Segura was a really good, shocking win

Akira Yaeashi's was The Ring champ, but his resume looked weak to me, and Gonzalez was 1 of 3 losses he suffered in a 2 year span (Gonzalez loss was sandwhiched in). The guys he beat seemed like weak fighters

It looks like other than Estrada, the stand out fighters in Gonzalez resume don't seem to have recent stand out wins themselves (recent as in, immediately prior to facing Gonzalez)

Just to clarify, this is my understanding, and i'm asking you to school me because I really don't follow the lower weights hardcore, I just have an above-casual-fan-level idea about the lower weights (I know Rigondeaux, Frampton weights)

[HanzGruber]

Cause he's a midget

[Aztekkas]

Cause he's a midget

But in a PFP setting my dear friend, size and height doesn't matter. It's all about skills and talent.

[ShoulderRoll]

So one win trumps all of Roman's career? That's rather absurd, wouldn't you agree? especially since Ward has done nothing significant in years and Kovalev's most notable wins don't trump Roman's.

Ward will have an entire career of work we can look at, showing dominance against the best of two divisions. In his case it will be easy to make the argument.

Kovalev less so but this "one win" would be a monster one. How many top 10 p4p'ers will Roman have beat as opposed to Krusher?

[HanzGruber]

But in a PFP setting my dear friend, size and height doesn't matter. It's all about skills and talent.

I know i just mean even in this site the lower weights don't get much attention. If he was a 130 pounder he'd prob be more hyped than golovkin