i often hear this said in reference to gennady golovkin, usually as an argument against him trying to get a fight made with a fellow champion in his division, but the truth is that no one else in the whole of boxing right now is held to such high standards that they would be criticised for clearing out and unifying their division - in fact, most p4p calibre fighters aren't even trying to do that. to name a few:
roman gonzalez - is demanding $2m to rematch estrada and apparently hasn't been informed that ruenroeng exists. skipped nietes and ioka entirely at light flyweight
andre ward - will fight golovkin or kovalev maybe 12 months from now, after he finishes wailing on a queue of novices and journeymen dredged up from the bowels of boxrec
sergey kovalev - apparently wants stevenson's title but is doing nothing to make it happen
guillermo rigondeaux - who knows what's going on with this guy's career
terence crawford - wasted 2015 on dulorme and jean when there were clearly better fights to be made
vasyl lomachenko - another wasted 2015, and the only significant fight he has tried to make lately was against a smaller guy
shinsuke yamanaka - has held the wbc title for four years without attempting to unify
takashi uchiyama - has held the wba title for almost six years without attempting to unify
timothy bradley - is apparently content to piss away the rest of his career on mediocre in-house match-ups
saul alvarez - won't fight the best fighter in his division (i.e. golovkin)
miguel cotto - ditto
a notable exception is wlad, who has been taking on all-comers for a while and seems set to continue
so i for one find it admirable that golovkin is trying to actually conquer his division, because most fighters, even the very best of them, apparently can't be bothered with that any more
roman gonzalez - is demanding $2m to rematch estrada and apparently hasn't been informed that ruenroeng exists. skipped nietes and ioka entirely at light flyweight
andre ward - will fight golovkin or kovalev maybe 12 months from now, after he finishes wailing on a queue of novices and journeymen dredged up from the bowels of boxrec
sergey kovalev - apparently wants stevenson's title but is doing nothing to make it happen
guillermo rigondeaux - who knows what's going on with this guy's career
terence crawford - wasted 2015 on dulorme and jean when there were clearly better fights to be made
vasyl lomachenko - another wasted 2015, and the only significant fight he has tried to make lately was against a smaller guy
shinsuke yamanaka - has held the wbc title for four years without attempting to unify
takashi uchiyama - has held the wba title for almost six years without attempting to unify
timothy bradley - is apparently content to piss away the rest of his career on mediocre in-house match-ups
saul alvarez - won't fight the best fighter in his division (i.e. golovkin)
miguel cotto - ditto
a notable exception is wlad, who has been taking on all-comers for a while and seems set to continue
so i for one find it admirable that golovkin is trying to actually conquer his division, because most fighters, even the very best of them, apparently can't be bothered with that any more