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Quick background. I like many boxing fans the last decade gravitated towards supporting the few elite boxers left in the sport with entertaining styles who were willing to take on ALL comers regardless of styles, prime, etc. As a result, two of my favorites have been Kovalev in his prime, GGG in his prime, Lomachenko, and another one I liked since I saw first fight on Kovalev's undercard or something is Alex Gvozdyk, who Marcus Browne called out tonight.
Now, many PBC fans have accused GGG & Kovalev fans such as myself of making excuses for their "losses," or hedging before their big fights saying they probably weren't in their primes anymore (pretty obvious now I was right but moving on).
I think tonight is actually a perfect example to finally make PBC fans understand, and empathize, with a fanbase they usually disagree with. Why tonight? Why not the big fights? Because Kovalev-Ward and GGG-Canelo were such emotional, big fights to many fans, it's hard for them to be fair. Tonight at 175, it was two PBC fighters facing off, nothing to do with the much-hated (by PBC fans) GGG and Kovalev, so there is no emotion involved to get in the way of understanding my point.
Pacquiao-Broner was the main event. Pacquiao won basically every round, but the judges gave Broner three (x1) and four (x2) rounds, respectively, meaning Broner started the fight up 3 rounds to 0, basically. Back to Jack-Browne, Browne struggled his last fight, and lost to Hot Rod in my and pretty much everyone else's opinions. He's never been ranked a top light heavyweight. However, Browne weighed in at 175 friday, then ballooned to 192 pounds on fight night. This is where me being a Gvozdyk fan comes into play. See it's not just that I think Kovalev and GGG got jobbed in big fights vs top opponents in big fights. The system is so skewed, I am now even worried about my favorite boxers from all over the world fighting a non-elite American PBC fighter.
Here is what I'm saying. Browne called out Gvozdyk post-fight. You just ask me straight up, who is better, who would win a boxing match, Gvozdyk or Browne, I would tell you Gvozdyk is the big favorite. But now look at what the situation REALLY is, that the best boxers from around the world always seem to face when fighting American PBC fighters. It's not Gvozdyk vs Browne, it's Gvozdyk at light heavyweight facing someone who somehow rehydrates to 192 but still has legs to move all night, and Gvozdyk is going to be starting the fight down 3 rounds. Now all of a sudden, I'm worried.
See what I mean? The best boxers from around the world can't even feel safe boxing the Marcus Browne's of the PBC stable, let alone Andre Ward or Canelo Alvarez, because the corruption is so blatant and so predictable. So I hope PBC fans can finally understand why fans of Kovalev or GGG would never give Ward or Canelo any credit for "winning" those fights. When you see that every time, the star in American boxing starts the fight up 2 or 3 rounds on the judges scorecards, then when Ward or Canelo win by 1 round on the cards, of course we're not going to believe they actually won! Even if the fight is dead even, like Canelo-Lara, and you think "you know, maybe Canelo really did win," the judges decision giving him the win still feels hollow and meaningless because at the same time you know, "yeah maybe he did win, or maybe Lara won, but I know that if Lara did win, they still would give it to Canelo, so that means the fact Canelo got it, we can never know if it's because the judges actually thought he won, or if it's just because they gave it to him, because we know they were going to give it to him either way."
And that's the case with all these fights. That's why I'm almost surprised PBC fans don't complain about it as much as we do, because even though the scorecards themselves are benfiting the PBC fighter or the American star in the case of Ward and Canelo (Mexican star but in America) in terms of collecting the belt and getting the official W, it sorts of makes any win any of them could get, barring domination or KO, hollow and meaningless because no one can ever trust anymore that they got the decision because they actually deserved it, rather than because they are stars in America facing foreign boxers.
So I just hope next time you see people making what you used to think of as "excuses," you don't think of it that way anymore and you start to understand where they are coming from. Just imagine how you would feel if every single boxer you liked had to start every meaningful match they have down 3 rounds on the card, and often at a weight disadvantage facing American stars who seem to have some sort of means of rehydrating crazy amounts that other nations have not developed yet, because I see tons of huge rehydrators within American boxing (Jermall, Spence, Munguia, Canelo, David Benavidez? Zurdo? Porter I'm guessing, Broner down at the lower weights, etc) but very few from other nations, to their detriment. I mean for crying out loud, I now have to worry about Browne, for Gvozdyk, even though Gvozdyk has consistently performed better than Browne has vs similar or better level of opposition. So if the playing field is so tilted that Gvozdyk is even up against it just fighting Browne, basically an A-level guy is up against it despite facing someone who is a lower grade than him, then just realize for a second how badly GGG and Kovalev were up against it fighting against actual top opponents. So of course we explained, because it's not a fair situation at all, and I just hope you guys can finally see that. Broner getting 4 rounds is crazy. A light heavyweight rehydrating to 192 and still being sharp and having stamina is crazy, and defeats the purpose of weight classes. What happened to the WBC's same day weigh-in? Hot damn the WBC is annoying with their fake promises.
Now, many PBC fans have accused GGG & Kovalev fans such as myself of making excuses for their "losses," or hedging before their big fights saying they probably weren't in their primes anymore (pretty obvious now I was right but moving on).
I think tonight is actually a perfect example to finally make PBC fans understand, and empathize, with a fanbase they usually disagree with. Why tonight? Why not the big fights? Because Kovalev-Ward and GGG-Canelo were such emotional, big fights to many fans, it's hard for them to be fair. Tonight at 175, it was two PBC fighters facing off, nothing to do with the much-hated (by PBC fans) GGG and Kovalev, so there is no emotion involved to get in the way of understanding my point.
Pacquiao-Broner was the main event. Pacquiao won basically every round, but the judges gave Broner three (x1) and four (x2) rounds, respectively, meaning Broner started the fight up 3 rounds to 0, basically. Back to Jack-Browne, Browne struggled his last fight, and lost to Hot Rod in my and pretty much everyone else's opinions. He's never been ranked a top light heavyweight. However, Browne weighed in at 175 friday, then ballooned to 192 pounds on fight night. This is where me being a Gvozdyk fan comes into play. See it's not just that I think Kovalev and GGG got jobbed in big fights vs top opponents in big fights. The system is so skewed, I am now even worried about my favorite boxers from all over the world fighting a non-elite American PBC fighter.
Here is what I'm saying. Browne called out Gvozdyk post-fight. You just ask me straight up, who is better, who would win a boxing match, Gvozdyk or Browne, I would tell you Gvozdyk is the big favorite. But now look at what the situation REALLY is, that the best boxers from around the world always seem to face when fighting American PBC fighters. It's not Gvozdyk vs Browne, it's Gvozdyk at light heavyweight facing someone who somehow rehydrates to 192 but still has legs to move all night, and Gvozdyk is going to be starting the fight down 3 rounds. Now all of a sudden, I'm worried.
See what I mean? The best boxers from around the world can't even feel safe boxing the Marcus Browne's of the PBC stable, let alone Andre Ward or Canelo Alvarez, because the corruption is so blatant and so predictable. So I hope PBC fans can finally understand why fans of Kovalev or GGG would never give Ward or Canelo any credit for "winning" those fights. When you see that every time, the star in American boxing starts the fight up 2 or 3 rounds on the judges scorecards, then when Ward or Canelo win by 1 round on the cards, of course we're not going to believe they actually won! Even if the fight is dead even, like Canelo-Lara, and you think "you know, maybe Canelo really did win," the judges decision giving him the win still feels hollow and meaningless because at the same time you know, "yeah maybe he did win, or maybe Lara won, but I know that if Lara did win, they still would give it to Canelo, so that means the fact Canelo got it, we can never know if it's because the judges actually thought he won, or if it's just because they gave it to him, because we know they were going to give it to him either way."
And that's the case with all these fights. That's why I'm almost surprised PBC fans don't complain about it as much as we do, because even though the scorecards themselves are benfiting the PBC fighter or the American star in the case of Ward and Canelo (Mexican star but in America) in terms of collecting the belt and getting the official W, it sorts of makes any win any of them could get, barring domination or KO, hollow and meaningless because no one can ever trust anymore that they got the decision because they actually deserved it, rather than because they are stars in America facing foreign boxers.
So I just hope next time you see people making what you used to think of as "excuses," you don't think of it that way anymore and you start to understand where they are coming from. Just imagine how you would feel if every single boxer you liked had to start every meaningful match they have down 3 rounds on the card, and often at a weight disadvantage facing American stars who seem to have some sort of means of rehydrating crazy amounts that other nations have not developed yet, because I see tons of huge rehydrators within American boxing (Jermall, Spence, Munguia, Canelo, David Benavidez? Zurdo? Porter I'm guessing, Broner down at the lower weights, etc) but very few from other nations, to their detriment. I mean for crying out loud, I now have to worry about Browne, for Gvozdyk, even though Gvozdyk has consistently performed better than Browne has vs similar or better level of opposition. So if the playing field is so tilted that Gvozdyk is even up against it just fighting Browne, basically an A-level guy is up against it despite facing someone who is a lower grade than him, then just realize for a second how badly GGG and Kovalev were up against it fighting against actual top opponents. So of course we explained, because it's not a fair situation at all, and I just hope you guys can finally see that. Broner getting 4 rounds is crazy. A light heavyweight rehydrating to 192 and still being sharp and having stamina is crazy, and defeats the purpose of weight classes. What happened to the WBC's same day weigh-in? Hot damn the WBC is annoying with their fake promises.
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