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He old. I been trying to tell y'all. Remember how before Canelo fought GGG, everyone thought Canelo would get knocked out, and people weren't even sure Canelo could beat David Lemieux, let alone Saunders or Dereyvanchenko.
Then Canelo gave GGG lots of problems, and suddenly everyone's theory changed. "Maybe Canelo is just way better than we thought."
But what if the first theory was actually the true one? What if Canelo just gave GGG big problems, and Canelo isn't even as good as Dereyvanchenko? What if GGG is so declined, he made a short former 154 Canelo look like the #2 middleweight in the world? What if GGG is so declined, Dereyvanchenko would be the favorite to beat him, and ruin the Canelo payday?
I also want to see GGG vs Dereyvanchenko. I also want to see GGG back in prime form, fighting the best guys at 160 and 168. But I've seen him in decline for literally 3 years now. He starts slower and slower every fight, and he finishes weaker and weaker every fight. Stamina is supposed to be GGG's biggest advantage over Canelo, but GGG is a 7 round fighter now. The only reason it's still his advantage is because Canelo is a 4 round fighter. But GGG's stamina is no longer very good either. And don't get me started on his punches. He pushes his punches now. They have no snap. No speed. No explosiveness. I haven't seen him throw a left hook like he did against Macklin against ANYONE for literally 3 years. The last time I saw him throw punches like that was Martin Murray. When was that, 3-4 years ago?
GGG is old. His promoter and his trainer pretend they don't see it, but if you look at their DECISIONS instead of their lip service, you can see they are being very cautious with GGG now where in the past, they weren't cautious at all. In the past, they knew they had the goods, so why be cautious? They knew GGG would beat anyone at 160 no matter the style. And GGG was unknown, eager to prove himself, and they were eager to make him a star, so they wanted those big challenges for him to overcome. But now they must not feel like he is still the goods. It's very disappointing and I think GGG's career has been ruined by people ducking him in his prime, and by his promoter's failure to pressure guys like Canelo to fight him in his prime. Loeffler even praised Oscar for making the Canelo fight so "quickly." Are you ****ing serious? A rival promoter waits out your boxer until he is old, ruining his career, but you praise that promoter?
See Lomachenko has the right idea. He shamed Tank on twitter. He even tweeted Tank's promoter to expose what their plan could be for the entire world. He essentially said, "world, be advised, they may try to wait me out until I'm old. Don't be fooled by what they're doing. Be aware, this is what they're trying to do." And the fans provided all the pressure from there.
Tom Loeffler takes the opposite approach. If Tom Loeffler was promoting Loma, instead of letting Loma tweet that, Loeffler would have said, "Tank is young, and I have so much respect for him, and his team, led by Floyd Mayweather and Al Haymon. I have a great respect for them. That fight would be a big fight in Vegas down the line, whenever they are ready. Lomachenko will fight anyone. Tank is not in a rush right now because of his age, and I respect that. I don't think there is any fear there. His team is so full of respect, and worthy of respect, that it could not possibly be fear. I respect them doing what is in the best interest of Tank's career. If they want to wait until Lomachenko is old, I can't have anything but respect for their desire for self-determination, and the money will be better once Loma is old and more well known, and that's all I care about anyway, so I'm totally good with that! I totally respect that if that's the way it goes, and I hope to work with Tank's team more in the future and maybe they will even buy me a slushy if I keep kissing their ass."
Something like that. Maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. But you get the point. Loeffler didn't care about pressuring opponents into fighting GGG. It seemed like all he cared about was becoming friends with all the big rival promoters and jump starting his own career in the big leagues of promoters. And look at Loeffler now. He just got to start his own company, Fight 360 or something like that. He totally tanked GGG's career, but Loeffler's career has taken off as a result. He did what was in his best interests, not GGG's, and it's worked out for him beautifully. To top it off, everyone from Haymon to Oscar to Bob Bennett knows that Loeffler is the biggest, most reliable Yes Man in the sport, and they know they can rely on him completely. I think Loeffler's dream was to be the next Richard Schaeffer or Steven Espinoza, someone who emerges from the promotional game into becoming a household promoter, and the way he did that was to go along with what all the bigger promoters wanted, and make excuses for their fighters ducking GGG, and talk good about them in the media, rather than doing what was best for GGG.
I just hope the fans remember what he did. Being a yes man will pay off for Loeffler in boxing because that's how boxing works right now with all the corrupt people running it, that's unavoidable, but I hope his reputation at least reflects what he's done to GGG's career, and how he prioritized himself over GGG. True boxing fans should never forget how he failed to pressure opponents to fight GGG, and even praised the people ducking GGG, not just Canelo but Cotto before that, and probably others before that I just can't remember. It wouldn't surprise me if he said the same **** about Sergio Martinez. "He's older now. He's earned the right to duck GGG if he wants. I have so much respect for him and his team." Stuff like that. I'm sure he said something along those lines. That is Loeffler's whole game. He's basically telling other promoters, "Even though I'm supposed to represent GGG's interests, I know the real money is with all you big sharks here in America, so I want you to know that my real loyalty lies with you, and that I can be relied on completely in the future, so when you guys keep playing your corrupt game in the decades to come, count me in. I want admission into your club, and I'm willing to make excuses for all of your most marketable middleweights ducking GGG and help protect your business interests and reputation, even though it hurts my boxer's career, just to prove how loyal I am to all of you, because I know the real money is with you guys, and with being included in this game for years to come, not with GGG who is just one fighter."
He didn't say that obviously, but that's the message I think he was sending, and you can see how it's all turned out. Loeffler's career has boomed the last year, while GGG's boxing career has gone completely off the rails over the same time period.
Then Canelo gave GGG lots of problems, and suddenly everyone's theory changed. "Maybe Canelo is just way better than we thought."
But what if the first theory was actually the true one? What if Canelo just gave GGG big problems, and Canelo isn't even as good as Dereyvanchenko? What if GGG is so declined, he made a short former 154 Canelo look like the #2 middleweight in the world? What if GGG is so declined, Dereyvanchenko would be the favorite to beat him, and ruin the Canelo payday?
I also want to see GGG vs Dereyvanchenko. I also want to see GGG back in prime form, fighting the best guys at 160 and 168. But I've seen him in decline for literally 3 years now. He starts slower and slower every fight, and he finishes weaker and weaker every fight. Stamina is supposed to be GGG's biggest advantage over Canelo, but GGG is a 7 round fighter now. The only reason it's still his advantage is because Canelo is a 4 round fighter. But GGG's stamina is no longer very good either. And don't get me started on his punches. He pushes his punches now. They have no snap. No speed. No explosiveness. I haven't seen him throw a left hook like he did against Macklin against ANYONE for literally 3 years. The last time I saw him throw punches like that was Martin Murray. When was that, 3-4 years ago?
GGG is old. His promoter and his trainer pretend they don't see it, but if you look at their DECISIONS instead of their lip service, you can see they are being very cautious with GGG now where in the past, they weren't cautious at all. In the past, they knew they had the goods, so why be cautious? They knew GGG would beat anyone at 160 no matter the style. And GGG was unknown, eager to prove himself, and they were eager to make him a star, so they wanted those big challenges for him to overcome. But now they must not feel like he is still the goods. It's very disappointing and I think GGG's career has been ruined by people ducking him in his prime, and by his promoter's failure to pressure guys like Canelo to fight him in his prime. Loeffler even praised Oscar for making the Canelo fight so "quickly." Are you ****ing serious? A rival promoter waits out your boxer until he is old, ruining his career, but you praise that promoter?
See Lomachenko has the right idea. He shamed Tank on twitter. He even tweeted Tank's promoter to expose what their plan could be for the entire world. He essentially said, "world, be advised, they may try to wait me out until I'm old. Don't be fooled by what they're doing. Be aware, this is what they're trying to do." And the fans provided all the pressure from there.
Tom Loeffler takes the opposite approach. If Tom Loeffler was promoting Loma, instead of letting Loma tweet that, Loeffler would have said, "Tank is young, and I have so much respect for him, and his team, led by Floyd Mayweather and Al Haymon. I have a great respect for them. That fight would be a big fight in Vegas down the line, whenever they are ready. Lomachenko will fight anyone. Tank is not in a rush right now because of his age, and I respect that. I don't think there is any fear there. His team is so full of respect, and worthy of respect, that it could not possibly be fear. I respect them doing what is in the best interest of Tank's career. If they want to wait until Lomachenko is old, I can't have anything but respect for their desire for self-determination, and the money will be better once Loma is old and more well known, and that's all I care about anyway, so I'm totally good with that! I totally respect that if that's the way it goes, and I hope to work with Tank's team more in the future and maybe they will even buy me a slushy if I keep kissing their ass."
Something like that. Maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. But you get the point. Loeffler didn't care about pressuring opponents into fighting GGG. It seemed like all he cared about was becoming friends with all the big rival promoters and jump starting his own career in the big leagues of promoters. And look at Loeffler now. He just got to start his own company, Fight 360 or something like that. He totally tanked GGG's career, but Loeffler's career has taken off as a result. He did what was in his best interests, not GGG's, and it's worked out for him beautifully. To top it off, everyone from Haymon to Oscar to Bob Bennett knows that Loeffler is the biggest, most reliable Yes Man in the sport, and they know they can rely on him completely. I think Loeffler's dream was to be the next Richard Schaeffer or Steven Espinoza, someone who emerges from the promotional game into becoming a household promoter, and the way he did that was to go along with what all the bigger promoters wanted, and make excuses for their fighters ducking GGG, and talk good about them in the media, rather than doing what was best for GGG.
I just hope the fans remember what he did. Being a yes man will pay off for Loeffler in boxing because that's how boxing works right now with all the corrupt people running it, that's unavoidable, but I hope his reputation at least reflects what he's done to GGG's career, and how he prioritized himself over GGG. True boxing fans should never forget how he failed to pressure opponents to fight GGG, and even praised the people ducking GGG, not just Canelo but Cotto before that, and probably others before that I just can't remember. It wouldn't surprise me if he said the same **** about Sergio Martinez. "He's older now. He's earned the right to duck GGG if he wants. I have so much respect for him and his team." Stuff like that. I'm sure he said something along those lines. That is Loeffler's whole game. He's basically telling other promoters, "Even though I'm supposed to represent GGG's interests, I know the real money is with all you big sharks here in America, so I want you to know that my real loyalty lies with you, and that I can be relied on completely in the future, so when you guys keep playing your corrupt game in the decades to come, count me in. I want admission into your club, and I'm willing to make excuses for all of your most marketable middleweights ducking GGG and help protect your business interests and reputation, even though it hurts my boxer's career, just to prove how loyal I am to all of you, because I know the real money is with you guys, and with being included in this game for years to come, not with GGG who is just one fighter."
He didn't say that obviously, but that's the message I think he was sending, and you can see how it's all turned out. Loeffler's career has boomed the last year, while GGG's boxing career has gone completely off the rails over the same time period.
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