Comparison Between Gennady Golovkin and Bernard Hopkins Title Reigns

[joseph5620]

Typical NSB. Excuses to discredit wins. When I think of blown up, I think of Eric Morales above 130.

I agree. Or Bradley if he moves up to 154. He's simply not big enough to seriously compete there.

[-PBP-]

Updated to include Dominic Wade. GGG desperately needs to get a top 3 fighter in the ring with him this year. If its not Canelo, Saunders or Jacobs I think this year would be a major disappointment.

[-PBP-]

This isn't intended to become a flaming fan boy war or criticize any fighter. I just think it's an interesting discussion and a topic that comes up a lot.

Here is the comparison:

Source:
Hopkins - Based on Ring Ratings the year before the fight took place
Golovkin - Ring Ratings until 2012, TBRB thereafter

Hopkins 20 title defenses

Howard Eastman (#1)
Oscar De La Hoya (UR)
Robert Allen (#2)
William Joppy (#2)
Morrade Hakkar (UR)
Carl Daniels (#8)
Felix Trinidad (#1)
Keith Holmes (#3)
Antwun Echols (#5)
Syd Vanderpool (UR)
Antwun Echols (#6)
Robert Allen (UR)
Robert Allen (#7)
Simon Brown (UR)
Andrew Council (UR)
Glen Johnson (UR)
John David Jackson (#9)
William Bo James (UR)
Joe Lipsey (#7)
Steve Frank (UR)

Gennady Golovkin 16 Title Defenses

Daniel Jacobs (#2)
Kell Brook (UR)
Dominic Wade (#10)
David Lemieux (#4)
Willie Monroe Jr (UR)
Martin Murray (#4)
Marco Antonio Rubio (#9)
Daniel Geale (#5)
Osumanu Adama (UR)
Curtis Stevens (UR)
Matthew Macklin (#6)
Nobuhiro Ishida (UR)
Gabriel Rosado (UR)
Grzegorz Proksa (#4)
Makoto Fuchigami (UR)
Lajuan Simon (UR)
Kassim Ouma (UR)
Nilson Julio Tapia (UR)



As you can see, Hopkins was in a similar situation and had trouble landing the top names at 160. He had some solid fighters in there such as John David Jackson, Antwun Echols and Robert Allen who were strong top 10 contenders. He also had a win over an undefeated Glen Johnson which looks better in hindsight. He didn't get his hands on the top guys until Don King's unification tournament which matched him up with Keith Holmes and Felix Trinidad where he finally laid his claim as the lineal champion of the division. After the tournament, he fought Joppy, Allen, Oscar and Eastman, 3 of which were top 2 at the time he fought them.

Golovkin has also struggled early on with a resume consisting of a lot of unranked fighters. His best wins are Murray, Geale, Proska and Lemieux but has not been able to land the top guys in the division (Sturm, Martinez, Cotto, Canelo, Jacobs, Quillin, etc.) At this stage in Hopkins career, he was finally able to unify the division.

How do you think these two middleweight reigns compare?

I've updated this post to include GGG's most recent wins over Brook and Jacobs. With the Jacobs win he gets his 5th win over a top 5 contender.

Clearly, this is becoming an all time great MW run and we are witnessing history. If he caps it off with an undisputed/lineal championship, there will be no denying his place among all time MW greats.

[therealpugilist]

This isn't intended to become a flaming fan boy war or criticize any fighter. I just think it's an interesting discussion and a topic that comes up a lot.

Here is the comparison:

Source:
Hopkins - Based on Ring Ratings the year before the fight took place
Golovkin - Ring Ratings until 2012, TBRB thereafter

Hopkins 20 title defenses

Howard Eastman (#1)
Oscar De La Hoya (UR)
Robert Allen (#2)
William Joppy (#2)
Morrade Hakkar (UR)
Carl Daniels (#8)
Felix Trinidad (#1)
Keith Holmes (#3)
Antwun Echols (#5)
Syd Vanderpool (UR)
Antwun Echols (#6)
Robert Allen (UR)
Robert Allen (#7)
Simon Brown (UR)
Andrew Council (UR)
Glen Johnson (UR)
John David Jackson (#9)
William Bo James (UR)
Joe Lipsey (#7)
Steve Frank (UR)

Gennady Golovkin 17 Title Defenses

Daniel Jacobs (#2)
Kell Brook (UR)
Dominic Wade (#10)
David Lemieux (#4)
Willie Monroe Jr (UR)
Martin Murray (#4)
Marco Antonio Rubio (#9)
Daniel Geale (#5)
Osumanu Adama (UR)
Curtis Stevens (UR)
Matthew Macklin (#6)
Nobuhiro Ishida (UR)
Gabriel Rosado (UR)
Grzegorz Proksa (#4)
Makoto Fuchigami (UR)
Lajuan Simon (UR)
Kassim Ouma (UR)
Nilson Julio Tapia (UR)



As you can see, Hopkins was in a similar situation and had trouble landing the top names at 160. He had some solid fighters in there such as John David Jackson, Antwun Echols and Robert Allen who were strong top 10 contenders. He also had a win over an undefeated Glen Johnson which looks better in hindsight. He didn't get his hands on the top guys until Don King's unification tournament which matched him up with Keith Holmes and Felix Trinidad where he finally laid his claim as the lineal champion of the division. After the tournament, he fought Joppy, Allen, Oscar and Eastman, 3 of which were top 2 at the time he fought them.

Golovkin has also struggled early on with a resume consisting of a lot of unranked fighters. His best wins are Murray, Geale, Proska and Lemieux but has not been able to land the top guys in the division (Sturm, Martinez, Cotto, Canelo, Jacobs, Quillin, etc.) At this stage in Hopkins career, he was finally able to unify the division.

How do you think these two middleweight reigns compare?

.....Hopkins defended one title...the ibf, 20 times, he only defended the lineal like 6 times.....GGG Has a minor belt defenses combined with the super title...not the same and doesnt count for total defenses.

he does not have 17 defenses of the WBA super title, many of those defenses are from him holding the minor, belt.


should GGG be considered lineal after beating Jacobs or does he have to eliminate BJS?

[therealpugilist]

Did you, with gggs semen on your breathe and his palm prints on your azz, really just call me a silly fan boy? GTFOH!

yea was funny.....

[bojangles1987]

I've updated this post to include GGG's most recent wins over Brook and Jacobs. With the Jacobs win he gets his 5th win over a top 5 contender.

Clearly, this is becoming an all time great MW run and we are witnessing history. If he caps it off with an undisputed/lineal championship, there will be no denying his place among all time MW greats.

He's definitely the best MW champ since Hopkins. Depending on how an Alvarez fight goes (and obviously Alvarez's career afterwards if GGG won), he could be just as great a middleweight.

[-PBP-]

.....Hopkins defended one title...the ibf, 20 times, he only defended the lineal like 6 times.....GGG Has a minor belt defenses combined with the super title...not the same and doesnt count for total defenses.

he does not have 17 defenses of the WBA super title, many of those defenses are from him holding the minor, belt.


should GGG be considered lineal after beating Jacobs or does he have to eliminate BJS?

It's so cloudy because of how boxing works nowadays. I think instead of looking at lineal or paper title defenses, we should start looking at it as "how many ranked contenders did you beat?"

Cleaning out your division of the easiest way to establish "who the man in the division is".

It's funny how these two careers are playing out so similar. It took Hopkins years to get his shot on the big stage, the same way it's taking GGG a while.

What young fighters can learn from both guys is, stay active, clean out your division, grab all of the titles, and force the big names to come and fight you.

[-PBP-]

He's definitely the best MW champ since Hopkins. Depending on how an Alvarez fight goes (and obviously Alvarez's career afterwards if GGG won), he could be just as great a middleweight.

Jacobs is a step in the right direction. He is GGG's version of Joppy/Holmes; top contenders that Hopkins could never get a hold of because of his beef with Don King.

These two careers are almost identical.

[GhostofDempsey]

I was never impressed with the reign of Hopkins or Monzon. Hopkins reign consisted of no-hopers and blown up welters. An unnecessary trilogy with Robert Allen, and considering his frame he could have moved up in weight much sooner but avoided the rematch with prime Jones at 168 as well as a fight with Toney. Lot of names missing from Hopkins reign such as Julian Jackson, and he never fought across the pond against Benn, Eubank, or Collins. The difference with Hopkins is that the talent was there, he just wasn't fighting them.

GGGs reign isn't any more impressive thus far, but I would rank Jacobs above anyone that Hopkins defended his titles against at 160. For GGG, there isn't the same level of talent to go around and choose from. Hopkins could have fought better opponents but didn't. GGG has to chase opponents down. In his next three or four fights he will need names such as Alvarez, Charlo, and rematch with Jacobs in order to hold bragging rights.

[-PBP-]

I was never impressed with the reign of Hopkins or Monzon. Hopkins reign consisted of no-hopers and blown up welters. An unnecessary trilogy with Robert Allen, and considering his frame he could have moved up in weight much sooner but avoided the rematch with prime Jones at 168 as well as a fight with Toney. Lot of names missing from Hopkins reign such as Julian Jackson, and he never fought across the pond against Benn, Eubank, or Collins. The difference with Hopkins is that the talent was there, he just wasn't fighting them.

GGGs reign isn't any more impressive thus far, but I would rank Jacobs above anyone that Hopkins defended his titles against at 160. For GGG, there isn't the same level of talent to go around and choose from. Hopkins could have fought better opponents but didn't. GGG has to chase opponents down. In his next three or four fights he will need names such as Alvarez, Charlo, and rematch with Jacobs in order to hold bragging rights.

You make some good points but I think the following points need to be shot down:

1. Neither Trinidad or Oscar were "blown up welters". Both were established champions at 154. Trinidad moved up in weight and flat out obliterated William Joppy who was a top 3 middelweight in the world. That proved he belonged.

With Oscar, he never really had success at 160 other than a gift decision over Sturm. But neither he or Tito jumped from 147 to 160 the way Kell Brook did. Unlike Brook, they had success at 154 and had previous fights at 160.

2. I don't see how you can rate Jacobs over Joppy and Holmes. Both of those guys beat numerous guys ranked in the top 10 whereas Jacobs only beat Quillin.