Prime for prime who wins in a fight between golovkin and martinez?

[LacedUp]

Martinez was TRULY world-class

when Golovkin finally stepped up to world-class, the beatings stopped

also, Martinez passed tests that Golovkin was unwilling to take..... which is why there are still many unanswered questions about Golovkin

I go with the proven guy

Who did Martinez prove his world class against that was above the level of a Canelo or Jacobs?

[MDPopescu]

Martinez was 35 yo when he beat Williams...

[DreamFighter]

martinez is more proven against world class opposition, GGG is however only a little behind.

I would expect a tight points split decision, but to Martinez.

[Gideon lock]

Two of my favourite fighters in recent years, man. Wandering when you'd consider Maravilla prime though... his name was really made with the P-Wills and Pavlik wins, but he was already 35 years old by then which would under most considerations make him past prime even given his late start in the sport. The Maravilla who had his hands full with the likes of Macklin, Barker and Dzinzhiruk would not have fared well against any Golovkin I think, but the version who put on a masterclass against Pavlik would have made an epic fight against a '12 - '15 GGG I reckon.

My personal guess is that a prime Golovkin would have cut the ring on him and eventually started to catch him after being tagged well and frequently early, but it is no more than that... a guess. Wopuld have been one of those fights I would have loved to have seen made.

Thank you for your time and response, great post it is very hard to pin down sergios prime one theory i do have is that he did indeed enjoy somewhat of a prime in his 30s unusually. Could be his late start in boxing mid 20s i believe. Less wear and tear compared to most. I didnt expect the thread to kick off like it has but there seems to be a genuine 50/50 divide. I'm still undecided as to who the victor would be.

[Gideon lock]

Lol is this a joke. Martinez struggled at times with average level fighters. He has draw with a cintron and struggled in his first fight against williams. We also saw martinez struggle with murray and macklin. LOL. GGG by ko in 6 easy easy win. Too open for ggg and his defense is terrible with his hands down.

No joke "boxing is serious" - golovkin.

It's interesting you mention marravilla struggling with average boxers i saw ggg struggle with adama and ouma both fairly average.

[Gideon lock]

Martinez

We saw what intelligent movement and distance control did to Golovkin

also.....

Martinez tested himself, repeatedly..... whereas Golovkin was - and still is - reluctant to match himself against certain world-class fighters

Martinez proved himself against BETTER opponents than Golovkin did

I pick Martinez

Golovkin does not one-punch guys, he breaks them down..... so I give the more defensively-responsible version of Golovkin who shows up when his opponent is a threat (Jabkin), far less chance to stop Martinez or outwork him

I see Martinez controlling that fight and landing the better punches

Great breakdown and something that often gets overlooked with martinez was his fantastic positioning in the ring plus being a slick southpaw I'm convinced that similarly to your opinion we would have seen a defensive ggg less willing to plod forward due to sergios movement, speed of foot.

One thing to consider to is would ggg be able to land the jab consistent or would he get frustrated and try to swarm martinez?

[LetOutTheCage]

Martinez wins a close, competitive decision. He was more nimble, and had KO power. I love GGG but even Jacobs and Canelo made him look slow at times. Martinez was a much better fighter than these two.

And GGG was in his prime against Canelo and Jacobs? Read the thread title again, prime GGG fought at a higher tempo.

I dont think Martinez was even in his prime when fighting at 160, would be a good fight but if Margarito can wear down and eventually KO are Martinez you know GGG would

[QballLobo]

GGG power is way bettar than Williams. Williams was a volume puncher.

GGG has the best power in middleweight in years

He dropped a 183 pounds Jacobs and K.Od Murray that probably won the fight against Martínez and dropped him

GGG looks great knocking out bums.
The two elite guys he faced at middleweight, Jacobs and Canelo, he couldn’t do much other than one knockdown against Jacobs, which he easily recovered from.
Martinez in his prime is closer to Jacobs and Canelo than the list of bums GGG knocked out.

[aboutfkntime]

It's on the same level, boxing is not only skills.

Margarito was a 147 pounds fighter, his max weight was 154.

But he had better wins than Martinez : Cotto, Martínez, Clottey, Cintrón.

Martínez: Pavlik, Williams.

Fighter like Dzinzriuk, JR, Murray, Valer, and all those bums that Martínez beat means nothing, they were b o c class fighters and you know this

Margarito was a dirty glove-loading POS

Martinez was CLEARLY a better fighter than the plodding face-first Margacheato..... it is shocking that you are not aware of that fact

his wins over Pavlik and Williams are better than cheato's tainted win over Cotto

Martinez was a JMW who punched above his weight at 160..... he was clearly a much better, more-skilled, more well-rounded, fighter than cheato

[aboutfkntime]

Like who though? Who are his best wins?

Tarver, Trinidad, take your pick

even his win over the road warrior Johnson is better than anything Golovkin ever did

he has strong career-defining wins, and master-class performances over the likes of Pavlik, etc..... their resume's are not even close

also, those guys are not cut from the same cloth..... they went about their business completely differently

Hopkins entered a sudden-death knockout tourney..... he unified a division by fighting actual champions..... he took short-money..... he gave concessions..... he jumped divisions..... often fighting the best opposition, right into his 40's..... he challenged himself and earned his position within the sport

Golovkin is an entitled diva who avoided a LOT more big fights than he took..... even now, after being widely criticized for YEARS for his poor opponent selection, Golovkin is still repaying his fans with second rate fights against no-hoper opponents

knowledgeable observers would not mention those guys in the same sentence

Hopkins over-achieved, Golovkin under-achieved..... big difference there