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

[baya]

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)

just watch a cpl of roman fights and you'll see what we're talking about. even though he's the size of a girl with crazy strength, he's as capable a fighter as you'll see. like finito used to be, sick fighting style.

[Aztekkas]

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)

Ok. Let's start with the most recent and work our way back a bit.

McWilliams Arroyo has a win over a once promising prospect in Froilan Saludar and a very debatable loss to Amnat. In fact, many folks believe he beat the cagey Thai fighter. Sure he was inactive for a year or so before facing off with Roman earlier this year, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the kid is talented and held his own.

Brian Viloria... You said it all. A shell of his former self. Sosa is too but then again, he's facing Donnie Nietes later on this month. Let's see how badly out of it Sosa truly is.


Valentin Leon and Rocky Fuentes were gap fillers, mediocre mismatches.

Yaegashi was a solid win. Since his loss to Roman he dropped down to 108 and lost once again to Pedro Guevara when he challenged he former Mexican champion for his WBC strap. However he stringed a few wins over limited opposition and was granted a title shot against Javier Mendoza, the former IBF title holder before snatching his belt. Proving once again that he has more than enough left in the tank to face and beat good fighters.

Juan Francisco Rodriguez Jr became a unified Straw weight champion, a former Light Fly weight contender and is currently getting his career back on track after losing to Nietes and Fuentes in two back to back brawls.

Of course Juan Francisco Estrada who went on to unify the Flyweight Division and will be returning to the ring soon to hopefully face his challenger, Kazuto Ioka. Also, Estrada had beaten Sanchez Jr in a rematch before facing Roman, whom eventually became a belt holder at 115 and is currently fighting at 122 if I recall correctly.


A once decent name in Hirales whom was a former world title challenger at the time, coming off a loss to Nietes.

Takayama who's the vet that refuses to give in to Father Time and just recently won a world title at minimum weight last month.

And of course his biggest earliest win, Niida.

So if you boil it down, you have a point . I'm not saying his resume is perfect, all I'm saying is he has more notable names than damn near anybody in the sport right now that's active. Also, if he manages to beat Cuadras that would be a major name to add. He would finally have a win over an undefeated, strong and prime young champion. Something he so desperately needs in my book.

[Aztekkas]

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?

He hasn't showed dominance of any sort at 175, well aside from a decent showing against Barrera. Unlike Roman, who's dominated everyone from 105 to 112 with ease. By dominance I mean Knocking them out cold and disposing of them as he pleases. Also, when's the last time Ward faced any notable opponent? It's been years since he has accomplished anything of significance. Sure a Kovalev victory will be huge but that's all it takes to knock a proven champion out of his throne? Years of inactivity, fighting in mismatches and one good win is all it takes?

Also, the fact that Roman doesn't have any wins over a top ten pound for pounder is a testament to the negligence that the lower weights face. I assure you, there has always been some amazing talent down there.

[boliodogs]

Pound for pound is strictly opinion based with no way to prove it unless the fighters fight each other. Gonzalez can't fight the Kovalev-Ward winner. I don't think the Ward-Kovalev winner should be an automatic number 1 pound for pound. A lot depends on how impressively they win. I think a good argument could be made for GGG or Gonzalez being number 1 regardless of who wins the Kovalev-Ward fight. Since it's opinion based just call Gonzalez number 1 if you think he is. Your opinion is as good as anybody else's opinion and nobody can prove you wrong.

[Madison Boxing]

because hes a midget

[Sup]

Americans don't care for the very two reasons you listed.

The dudes are way too small to even be considered athletes and because there are no top Americans in those weight classes.

[soul_survivor]

I personally don't have Gonzalez p4p no.1, that honour belongs to Kovalev (after Pacs retirement and Wlads loss).

Add to that the fact that I don't have Ward on my p4p list right now and neither should any true boxing fan, I wouldn't have Ward jump straight to number one but he'd be top 5 in my book. Similar scenario to Fury in some ways.

[Tom Cruise]

I will have the winner of Ward vs Kovalev overtaking Roman to be P4P no.1.

Its not really Gonzalez' fault, its just not that often that you get two prime(ish) top 4 P4Pers fighting each other. Gonzalez just isnt far enough ahead to compete with a win like that.

That said. If he could get a win over Cuadras and then beat the likes of Inuoue and Estrada (two guys who could concievably be top 10 p4p in terms of talent), then he could surely put himself back in contention.

In real terms though, its gonna be hard for someone his size to take the spot back in the mainstream medias opinion. His fights just arent going to get enough attention.

[dannnnn]

Roman Gonzalez is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. A win for either Kovalev or Ward over the other won't change that.

[Tom Cruise]

I personally don't have Gonzalez p4p no.1, that honour belongs to Kovalev (after Pacs retirement and Wlads loss).

Add to that the fact that I don't have Ward on my p4p list right now and neither should any true boxing fan, I wouldn't have Ward jump straight to number one but he'd be top 5 in my book. Similar scenario to Fury in some ways.

I can see what you are saying in terms of his recent resume. But in real terms its hard not to have him as one of the best 5 fighters in the world.