Be honest: Who picked Walters over Lomachenko?

[Boxing Goat]

At the time I expected a competitive fight with Loma winning a UD. I didn't expect a blowout stoppage.

[Boxing Goat]

There was “ax man!” posts all over this forum and some people even had him on their p4p list now all of a sudden he’s a bum.

^ This. It always happens like that. Now nobody claims him. Pitiful.

[The Big Dunn]

I've completely acknowledged it multiple times. I said it's on Walters for rejecting the fight. He rejected the fight in 2015 and went with a Sosa bout (when he was already at 130) and then rejected it again for June of 2016. The ring rust is on Walters. It doesn't make the rust go away but it doesn't mean the blame for the rust goes with someone else when the decision was on him and his team. Ring rust I think is less of a factor for guys in the prime of their careers and in their 20's. Not like Walters had a lot of wear and tear and was in his 30's but obviously some sharpness is lost.

Walters was also the bigger man in November 2016. I went to the fight and the weigh-in and saw them close. I don't think Walters shrunk in 5 months or that Loma suddenly equaled his size.

I think looking at the action its clear who the better fighter was and who'd always win. If Walters had landed some shots or been competitive I could understand one thinking it could be different (I don't but whatever) but Lomachenko won 1260 seconds of a 1260 second fight. The Walters from the Marriaga and Sosa fights doesn't strike me as a guy that can beat Lomachenko from his 3rd, 4th fight onward. Doesn't always work this way but the gulf in class between Lomachenko and those two guys (and Walters) shows that the result surely couldn't be much different.

Maybe the fight will have gone as I thought it would 119-109/118-110 type of fight. It was headed to 120-108 or stoppage had he not quit.

He didn't reject the fight in 2015, Arum and Loma did. He took no time off, other than to wait while HBO/Arum gave him fights since he wasn't expected to beat Nonito.

The layoff between the Sosa fight and the Loma fight is partly on Walters, yes. However, as I said before, his rejection of the deal was about the extra crap Arum always throws in. It is odd that the lower draw always "prices himself out" according to Arum.

Loma had a fight at 130 while Walters was off. had they fought when they were originally planned to, this wouldn't have been the case.

If Arum thought Loma was going to win in late 2015, there would be no need to say that "unification" was now the main goal, he would've just fought Walters since they were clearly the 2 best at 126. It was clear that a win over Walters was worth more than defeating the other 126lb champs.

As I said before in other discussions you bring up the time a fighter may have been off. Here, you didn't bring it up, and then when you do, you say well it was no big deal. While no 2 situations are exactly alike, it is hypocritical to differentiate in this manner.

Or maybe, as he did in the Salido fight, have a tough time dealing with someone with a size and reach advantage. of course we will never know.

[Curt Henning]

Partly that but probably half the folks that picked Walters would have used words like "exposed". They will have just moved onto the next guy and forgot about Walters like they have done. It's always the same.

I liked the style match for Lomachenko. Walters had been looking very good, but I just thought he'd get picked off coming in. I expected him to tough it out and go the full route though. I went to the fight and I'd have to say it was one of the more impressive virtuoso performances I've seen live in recent years.

I think Rigo will suffer the same fate and lose most of his new found fans unfortunately. That's sad because he has a ton of skill and probably deserves to be in the Hall of Fame one day but he will be completely ignored by those that are most vocal about what he's going to do next week. In fairness some of his real fans will stick around and some of the other "fans" gave up on him when the fight was signed despite the day prior being adamant he was being avoided and would win easy.

ya i hear you...its bad when guys claim their pick got exposed and just move on to the next guy.....

but its even more sad when guys picks get exposed and the fans are in denial and make excuses and claim they won when they didnt...thats truly sad....but im sure you know the type....cause well....u are a golovkin fan afterall...

[joseph5620]

I picked Lomachenko by decision but I didn't expect it to be that one sided. Walters quit after getting picked apart.

[chrisJS]

He didn't reject the fight in 2015, Arum and Loma did. He took no time off, other than to wait while HBO/Arum gave him fights since he wasn't expected to beat Nonito.

The layoff between the Sosa fight and the Loma fight is partly on Walters, yes. However, as I said before, his rejection of the deal was about the extra crap Arum always throws in. It is odd that the lower draw always "prices himself out" according to Arum.

Loma had a fight at 130 while Walters was off. had they fought when they were originally planned to, this wouldn't have been the case.

If Arum thought Loma was going to win in late 2015, there would be no need to say that "unification" was now the main goal, he would've just fought Walters since they were clearly the 2 best at 126. It was clear that a win over Walters was worth more than defeating the other 126lb champs.

As I said before in other discussions you bring up the time a fighter may have been off. Here, you didn't bring it up, and then when you do, you say well it was no big deal. While no 2 situations are exactly alike, it is hypocritical to differentiate in this manner.

Or maybe, as he did in the Salido fight, have a tough time dealing with someone with a size and reach advantage. of course we will never know.

I think it's pretty clear Loma is a much better fighter today or even at the end of 2014 than he was in his 2nd pro fight. That's natural in Boxing. I also don't know that Walters would have been able to skip on the weight and then land multiple low blows. I think Loma learned from that experience in and out of the ring.

Not sure what "extra crap" was thrown into the contact. Not like he wasn't a Top Rank fighter or had a line of other promoters fighting for his signature. Maybe Loma was asking for penalties for not making weight? Strictly theory but would be justified since he got royally screwed by that in his 2nd fight.

Walters was no longer at 126 by the end of 2015.

[chrisJS]

ya i hear you...its bad when guys claim their pick got exposed and just move on to the next guy.....

but its even more sad when guys picks get exposed and the fans are in denial and make excuses and claim they won when they didnt...thats truly sad....but im sure you know the type....cause well....u are a golovkin fan afterall...

I'm actually not. Respecting and enjoying a fighter doesn't = fan.

My pick for GGG-Canelo was a close decision win for GGG and most people agree with me. Your pick was a dominant blowout for Canelo and even you admit you were wrong just like you were on Walters-Loma.

[The Big Dunn]

I think it's pretty clear Loma is a much better fighter today or even at the end of 2014 than he was in his 2nd pro fight. That's natural in Boxing. I also don't know that Walters would have been able to skip on the weight and then land multiple low blows. I think Loma learned from that experience in and out of the ring.

Not sure what "extra crap" was thrown into the contact. Not like he wasn't a Top Rank fighter or had a line of other promoters fighting for his signature. Maybe Loma was asking for penalties for not making weight? Strictly theory but would be justified since he got royally screwed by that in his 2nd fight.

Walters was no longer at 126 by the end of 2015.

I am not disagreeing with you. The fact remains that Arum/Loma put the kibash on the fight when we all thought it would be next. Now Walters is at fault for missing weight that caused him to get stripped. That said, beating him was worth more than beating the other beltholders at that time.

Walters was a much better fighter than before the BS MD and the layoff.

As I said earlier, Arum worked this to make sure his preferred guy had the best chance to win. Doesn't mean Lomawouldn't have won in late 2015. It's like Manny and Cotto being at 145, or him marinating Gamboa/Juan Ma because Juan Ma had the bigger upside and the PR fanbase.

[Fay]

The same people that picked ggg over Canelo they don’t know **** about boxing!!!