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Floyd claims neither he or Tank are scared of Tank fighting Loma, or losing to Loma. He says that's not the reason he won't make the Loma-Tank fight. Instead, this is the reason he gave:
The problem is, that answer doesn't make sense, and it exposes that the real answer has to be simply that he and/or Tank think Loma would kick his ass. Otherwise, what does "if you rush and take all the hard fights now" have to do with Loma-Tank? If fans were pressuring Tank to fight Mikey Garcia, GGG, Crawford, Spence, Thurman, and Matthysse all in the next two years, then the context of Floyd's answer would make sense, but nothing he said actually explains why this one singular fight, with no rematch clause, can't happen. Why can't Tank take one real fight against someone who is not even a huge puncher, and then if it's a hard fight, fight cab drivers for another few years like he was planning to anyway? Or if the fight with Loma is a great competitive fight, do the rematch a couple years down the line, and it will be twice as big due to the first one being such a good fight.
Floyd's answer would work as an explanation for why he doesn't want to put Tank in with tons of elite, dangerous opponents back to back at a young age, but as an explanation for why Tank won't fight Loma, it fails completely. He basically said that boxer can fight top opponents in their careers, and even have tough fights, but that those tough fights need to be spaced out in order for the fighter to have longevity. But he never answered the question, then okay, why can't Loma be one of those fights? And since Loma isn't even known as a huge puncher, who's to say it will even end up being a tough or brutal fight? It could just be a good learning experience boxing lesson where Tank doesn't even take that much damage.
So, since the answer Floyd gave for not making Loma-Tank does not even make sense in the context of this one fight, rather than a string of fights against bigger punchers than Loma, I think it makes it even more obvious that Floyd is hiding the real reason, which is that either he, or Tank, or both, do not think Tank is good enough to compet with Lomachenko. Floyd isn't worried about Tank taking punishment... I mean, if you look at the "doghouse sparring" Floyd has his guys do for peanuts in the gym, it seems like Floyd doesn't actually care about whether his fighters take punishment at all, it seems like that whole schtick is just a lie he used to excuse ducking opponents... Floyd is worried about Tank getting exposed as a hype job and losing the fans they've fooled into believing he's a top fighter, because that will affect Tank's ability to sell tickets.
He doesn't have faith in Tank perhaps losing a very competitive fight, like Lomachenko did vs Salido, and then learning from it, rebounding with a bunch of big wins, like Lomachenko did, and building himself as a draw from the ground up based on talent and top wins as his career goes on, because he doesn't think Tank is good enough, or ever will be good enough, to actually put together top wins in the future. He seems to view Tank as a hypejob who will have to be protected his entire career, because the moment he fights a real one, the hype will be exposed, and Floyd doesn't think the talent is there to ever earn that hype back with actual in-ring performances against top guys.
At least, that's kind of what it sounds like. Otherwise, why can't Tank-Loma be Tank's first big fight? Then, depending on how it goes, they can go back to protecting Tank for a few years, for "longevity's" sake. Based on Floyd's own logic, there would seem to be no problem with that. Except, of course, for what Floyd didn't say, which is that he thinks Tank will get dominated so badly that it will hurt his brand. What do y'all think? I just want to see the #1 at 130 fight the #2.
But if you rush and take all of the hard fights now, then you won't make it to 38 or 39 in the boxing business. There is no rush
Floyd's answer would work as an explanation for why he doesn't want to put Tank in with tons of elite, dangerous opponents back to back at a young age, but as an explanation for why Tank won't fight Loma, it fails completely. He basically said that boxer can fight top opponents in their careers, and even have tough fights, but that those tough fights need to be spaced out in order for the fighter to have longevity. But he never answered the question, then okay, why can't Loma be one of those fights? And since Loma isn't even known as a huge puncher, who's to say it will even end up being a tough or brutal fight? It could just be a good learning experience boxing lesson where Tank doesn't even take that much damage.
So, since the answer Floyd gave for not making Loma-Tank does not even make sense in the context of this one fight, rather than a string of fights against bigger punchers than Loma, I think it makes it even more obvious that Floyd is hiding the real reason, which is that either he, or Tank, or both, do not think Tank is good enough to compet with Lomachenko. Floyd isn't worried about Tank taking punishment... I mean, if you look at the "doghouse sparring" Floyd has his guys do for peanuts in the gym, it seems like Floyd doesn't actually care about whether his fighters take punishment at all, it seems like that whole schtick is just a lie he used to excuse ducking opponents... Floyd is worried about Tank getting exposed as a hype job and losing the fans they've fooled into believing he's a top fighter, because that will affect Tank's ability to sell tickets.
He doesn't have faith in Tank perhaps losing a very competitive fight, like Lomachenko did vs Salido, and then learning from it, rebounding with a bunch of big wins, like Lomachenko did, and building himself as a draw from the ground up based on talent and top wins as his career goes on, because he doesn't think Tank is good enough, or ever will be good enough, to actually put together top wins in the future. He seems to view Tank as a hypejob who will have to be protected his entire career, because the moment he fights a real one, the hype will be exposed, and Floyd doesn't think the talent is there to ever earn that hype back with actual in-ring performances against top guys.
At least, that's kind of what it sounds like. Otherwise, why can't Tank-Loma be Tank's first big fight? Then, depending on how it goes, they can go back to protecting Tank for a few years, for "longevity's" sake. Based on Floyd's own logic, there would seem to be no problem with that. Except, of course, for what Floyd didn't say, which is that he thinks Tank will get dominated so badly that it will hurt his brand. What do y'all think? I just want to see the #1 at 130 fight the #2.
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