Is Gennady Golovkin Overrated or Underrated?

[Truth Bringer]

Some people now seem to believe GGG never beat anyone good, avoided certain styles and lost as soon as he stepped up in competition.

Others believe GGG in his prime was ducked by everyone in his division and nevertheless had a great MW reign beating good competition.

Some still believe he beat Canelo in both fights while others think he lost one or both.

Overall is GGG's career and abilities being overrated or underrated and why?

[BodyBagz]

Fought too many scrubs. Given more credit than he deserves in Nelo rematch. In both fights, the only thing that worked for GGG was his jab.

No body shots, no combos, no ring generalship, questionable defense......

[sunny31]

Some people now seem to believe GGG never beat anyone good, avoided certain styles and lost as soon as he stepped up in competition.

Others believe GGG was ducked by everyone in his prime years and still had a great MW reign beating good competition.

Some still believe he beat Canelo in both fights while others think he lost one or both.

Overall is GGG's career and abilities being overrated or underrated and why?

Forget the forum on this topic, full of idiots.

I think overall - he is rated about right, maybe marginally overrated.

Let me explain...

He will go down as a first ballot HOFer, for me he definitely is a HOFer but I think many people have him as one of the greatest middleweights of all time, I've heard it banded around quite a lot in boxing media and I dont agree with that, he simply did not prove.

I think he was vastly overrated pre-Brook fight, but since that fight he has proved himself, he has proved he is elite but he also proved he is not a destroyer of good fighters. He doesnt overwhelm elite fighters, he competes with them, and generally ends up in close, either way fights. His skills and speed are B+ and B respectively, but his stamina, IQ, power, consistency are all up there.

But at the end of the day you are a sum of what you accomplished, he had a lengthy reign, which didnt mean much, mostly C and D level fighters, he did show that he is consistent in that phase of his career. But ultimately he would be judged on his win over Jacob's, which was a very close fight, the two Canelo fights, for me both either way fights, maybe you'd lean his way in the first, and Derv which was also very close.

Here is the thing, I think he had All Time Greatness in the palm of his hand in the second Canelo fight and let it go. I said this in the aftermath and whenever I discuss the fight. I think GGG has the ability to take Canelo into deep waters and drown him, but he chose to box and move (well), he just doesnt seem to have the mentality to go for it from Round 1 and let it all go. I strongly feel, in a war of attrition he would outlast Canelo and stop him late. In that second fight, he had a Canelo who was moving towards him and he himself decided to box, he let the moment slip.

So overall - great fighter, he has proved that, even if you call those Canelo fights same as judges. Just not what he was cracked up to be before he stepped his competition up. If you matched him with all the belt holders over the past 25 years, he would win a lot more than he'd lose, but he would certainly lose some. If you matched him with a prime hopkins, I think hes a level below that.

[BodyBagz]

Forget the forum, full of idiots.

I think overall - he is rated about right, maybe marginally overrated.

Let me explain...

He will go down as a first ballot HOFer, for me he definitely is a HOFer but I think many people have him as one of the greatest middleweights of all time, I've heard it banded around quite a lot in boxing media and I dont agree with that, he simply did not prove.

I think he was vastly overrated pre-Brook fight, but since that fight he has proved himself, he has proved he is elite but he also proved he is not a destroyer of good fighters. He doesnt overwhelm elite fighters, he competes with them, and generally ends up in close, either way fights. His skills and speed are B+ and B respectively, but his stamina, IQ, power, consistency are all up there.

But at the end of the day you are a sum of what you accomplished, he had a lengthy reign, which didnt mean much, mostly C and D level fighters, he did show that he is consistent in that phase of his career. But ultimately he would be judged on his win over Jacob's, which was a very close fight, the two Canelo fights, for me both either way fights, maybe you'd lean his way in the first, and Derv which was also very close.

Here is the thing, I think he had All Time Greatness in the palm of his hand in the second Canelo fight and let it go. I said this in the aftermath and whenever I discuss the fight. I think GGG has the ability to take Canelo into deep waters and drown him, but he chose to box and move (well), he just doesnt seem to have the mentality to go for it from Round 1 and let it all go. I strongly feel, in a war of attrition he would outlast Canelo and stop him late. In that second fight, he had a Canelo who was moving towards him and he himself decided to box, he let the moment slip.

So overall - great fighter, he has proved that, even if you call those Canelo fights same as judges. Just not what he was cracked up to be before he stepped his competition up. If you matched him with all the belt holders over the past 25 years, he would win a lot more than he'd lose, but he would certainly lose some. If you matched him with a prime hopkins, I think hes a level below that.

Take away your snide opening remark, you're on point.

You basically say what most people say. GGG a good fighter but not as good as his fans say. Fans very rarely look at their hero's resume. They won't like what they see.

I see Jacobs and Nelo having a pretty easy time with GGG''s lineup. GGG was very fortunate when he came up.

[Ghost Jab]

I love Golovkin, but he’s/was a middleweight Deontay Wilder. Great power, intimidating af, but throw him in there with a true boxer who isn’t going to be scared of him, and he’s in some trouble.

[BoxingIsGreat]

Definitely underrated. He's the best I've ever seen. I think we need to wait at least a century for a supergreat boxer like him to come around.

[Roadblock]

Very good fighter with awesome power that his promoter lost sight off, tried to just bum his way through a relatively weak division, and when he finally got some really big fights he had become old.

Over rated when talking ATG MW and under rated by guys calling him a bum.

[aboutfkntime]

Forget the forum, full of idiots.

I think overall - he is rated about right, maybe marginally overrated.

Let me explain...

He will go down as a first ballot HOFer, for me he definitely is a HOFer but I think many people have him as one of the greatest middleweights of all time, I've heard it banded around quite a lot in boxing media and I dont agree with that, he simply did not prove.

I think he was vastly overrated pre-Brook fight, but since that fight he has proved himself, he has proved he is elite but he also proved he is not a destroyer of good fighters. He doesnt overwhelm elite fighters, he competes with them, and generally ends up in close, either way fights. His skills and speed are B+ and B respectively, but his stamina, IQ, power, consistency are all up there.

But at the end of the day you are a sum of what you accomplished, he had a lengthy reign, which didnt mean much, mostly C and D level fighters, he did show that he is consistent in that phase of his career. But ultimately he would be judged on his win over Jacob's, which was a very close fight, the two Canelo fights, for me both either way fights, maybe you'd lean his way in the first, and Derv which was also very close.

Here is the thing, I think he had All Time Greatness in the palm of his hand in the second Canelo fight and let it go. I said this in the aftermath and whenever I discuss the fight. I think GGG has the ability to take Canelo into deep waters and drown him, but he chose to box and move (well), he just doesnt seem to have the mentality to go for it from Round 1 and let it all go. I strongly feel, in a war of attrition he would outlast Canelo and stop him late. In that second fight, he had a Canelo who was moving towards him and he himself decided to box, he let the moment slip.

So overall - great fighter, he has proved that, even if you call those Canelo fights same as judges. Just not what he was cracked up to be before he stepped his competition up. If you matched him with all the belt holders over the past 25 years, he would win a lot more than he'd lose, but he would certainly lose some. If you matched him with a prime hopkins, I think hes a level below that.

I agree with everything except the "Greatness in the palm of his hand" line

"I think GGG has the ability to take Canelo into deep waters and drown him, but he chose to box and move (well)"

what we saw in that fight... is that Golovkin did NOT have the ability to take Canelo into deep waters... he could not get his game going in EITHER of those fights, because of the threat posed by Canelo's style/skills... ... after being roundly criticized for a lack of pipe-bursting pressure and NO bodywork in the first fight, Golovkin was actually WORSE in the rematch... and we all heard that "fight like a Mexican" talk

I think Abel Sanchez summed it up perfectly

"Obviously, we wanted Golovkin to do a lot of different things,” Sanchez said... but when they’re in the ring, they’re gonna do the things that they see available to them. Canelo fought the fight that he needed to fight today to win."

but I agree with your assessment... " marginally overrated "...

perhaps a little more than marginally

good post

[mick1303]

I love Golovkin, but he’s/was a middleweight Deontay Wilder. Great power, intimidating af, but throw him in there with a true boxer who isn’t going to be scared of him, and he’s in some trouble.

I don't feel this is a good comparison. Wilder was utterly embarrassed. GGG fought an even fight. In their respective draws Wilder was a beneficiary of a robbery, while with GGG it was the other way around.

[Citizen Koba]

Underated by some, overated by others... ain't like there's a h0m0genous opinion now is there? Im happy to leave the final judgement to the historians of the future.

Far as I'm concerned he's simply the most accomplished Middleweight since Hopkins and was for a spell of several years the best Middleweight in the world. No more no less. His lack of definining victories makes it difficult to rank him amongst the Middleweight greats although his longevity at the top of his division is worthy of mention. A HoF lock I think but not an ATG, maybe not even in the division he called his own.

H2H A very good fighter, sadly we never saw what his prime ceiling might have been. Not stratospherically good like a Floyd or a Manny - and at no point did I consider him the best fighter in the world - but elite nonetheless for my money and I'd say one of the ten best of the last decade.