Does Canelo need to win to have a shot at "greatness"?

[Real King Kong]

No. He lost only to one great fighter. Canelo has ONE loss. Against Golovkin it was officially a draw and some thought Canelo won.

I'm talking about the upcoming fight here. You're basically saying Canelo doesn't need to beat ggg to still be on the path to greatness, because ggg is nothing special?

[boliodogs]

In this type of situation, almost all great fighters in their prime beat the aging champion...canelo is at his absolute peak and ggg is in the back half of his 30s.

Canelo got a pass for losing to Floyd cuz he was "green"...but that doesn't apply anymore.

I personally think Canelo is a step below a true great fighter, but I doubt he thinks that. He certainly has those aspirations...time for him to show and prove.

It would depend on how good he has to be to be considered great. He is going up against a great 36 year old. Trinidad lost to the much older Hopkins and is still generally considered a great fighter. If Canelo bounced back with some excellent wins he might still achieve greatness in my opinion. At the very least I think he is pretty damn good just for what he has already done..

[Teetotaler]

No. I don't think Golovkin has done anything special to make anyone's resume look great. Who has he beaten? Jacobs?

Greatness with a small g Canelo already is.

No. He lost only to one great fighter. Canelo has ONE loss. Against Golovkin it was officially a draw and some thought Canelo won.

You never fail to amuse me with your ******ity

[Scopedog]

I would say yes. If he just wants to redeem himself for everything that's happened over the last six months or so however, he just has to fight well.

[Real King Kong]

It would depend on how good he has to be to be considered great. He is going up against a great 36 year old. Trinidad lost to the much older Hopkins and is still generally considered a great fighter. If Canelo bounced back with some excellent wins he might still achieve greatness in my opinion. At the very least I think he is pretty damn good just for what he has already done..

That's true, but tito was no real mw, his best weight was 140-147...he didn't do much of anything past 154.

Who's really out there for canelo to make a name off? At this stage he's gotta win this type of fight imo...to really set himself apart as a potential great anyway. He has quite a bit of career left tho, so we'll see what happens.

[187 Proof]

Right now Canelo will be remembered as a very good fighter.

To be great he needs to not only beat Golovkin, which I think he did in the first fight (not impressively though), but knock him out. And then still put in a lot of work after that (maybe a Gary O'Sullivan or David Lemieux as a soft touch and then Danny Jacobs, Ryota Murata and Jaime Munguia).

[Eff Pandas]

I don't think he necessarily has to. He JUST turned 28 ffs. He's big already, the biggest name in the game & he's got like 5 or so years til he starts getting to the back end of his career.

Its certainly not helping him reach greatness if he loses Saturday, but with where he's at already I think its possible he could lose to GGG & then next year or two years from now have some career defining great win vs someone else on the scene that gets him to that highly subjective & speculative sacred ground we call "greatness".

[dibzvincent143]

GGG would be his best win. Unless he climbs to 168-175 to achieved such a feat. Yes he has to win, other 28 yr old greats have done more than his upcoming battle. Wanna belong in the club? Win that fight at the prime of your career no excuses.
Golovkin can make excuses that he’s old. Canelo can’t when he loses.
It’ll be his signature win, and other wins in the future will not nearly be close to it, unless a superstar at middleweight will be born or like I said, if he moves up to bigger weights where he’s the underdog.

[Scopedog]

I don't think he necessarily has to. He JUST turned 28 ffs. He's big already, the biggest name in the game & he's got like 5 or so years til he starts getting to the back end of his career.

Its certainly not helping him reach greatness if he loses Saturday, but with where he's at already I think its possible he could lose to GGG & then next year or two years from now have some career defining great win vs someone else on the scene that gets him to that highly subjective & speculative sacred ground we call "greatness".

I don't think you're necessarily wrong, but even though he's just 28 it feels like he's been around forever. He's been a pro for 13 years and he's been fighting for world titles for more than half of that. I can't help but wonder if the wear and tear is going to set in earlier than usual for him because of that, even though he does seem to be one of those athletic freaks for whom fights like this seem to come naturally. In particular the first GGG fight will have taken a lot out of him, and win or lose he's likely going to have to face a similar ordeal on Saturday. I think you could be right and that he'll carry on for another good few years, but I could also see him retiring at 31 or 32.

[Eff Pandas]

I don't think you're necessarily wrong, but even though he's just 28 it feels like he's been around forever. He's been a pro for 13 years and he's been fighting for world titles for more than half of that. I can't help but wonder if the wear and tear is going to set in earlier than usual for him because of that, even though he does seem to be one of those athletic freaks for whom fights like this seem to come naturally.

Could be, but I think he's got a good adaptable style to last into his mid-30's at a high level. And he's gonna be the craftiest cat in the game when he's in his early 30's. He's gonna have all the tricks in the book.

In particular the first GGG fight will have taken a lot out of him, and win or lose he's likely going to have to face a similar ordeal on Saturday. I think you could be right and that he'll carry on for another good few years, but I could also see him retiring at 31 or 32.

Idk that the first fight took much out of him. That fight seemed more strategic then I expected by both guys & I actually felt Canelo landed most of the best punches. I think you could easily argue that fight was rougher on GGG than Canelo & potentially specifically because of how old GGG is I think it mighta been rougher on him.