Like him or not, Dan Rafael is the most important boxing journalist in the world right now. Disagree with him? Sure. Question his authority? Not so sure. He makes a living (probably not a bad one, I hear his fridge is always full) writing about boxing 24/7. How many on this site can claim the same?
Fat Dan is right for those of you saying he'd beat Mayweather and GGG. GGG stops him, Mayweather near enough shuts him out. If either of those guys had performed as poor as Lara did against Molina, Angulo, Vanes and Hernandez, haters would really have something to hate on.
Well, no, they wouldn't. Molina, Angulo, and Vanes would each arguably be Golovkin's best opponent faced (Macklin); and all of them would certainly surpass his second best victim (Proksa, Rosado, Stevens, etc.). Let alone to have faced all of them + Trout and Paul Williams.
He was arguably defeated by Molina, went life and death with Angulo, but the biggest thing for me is him facing an extremely faded Williams. He must have hit Williams with every flush overhand left that he threw yet he barely managed to hurt him nor did he come close to ever scoring a knock down.
I didn't say they wouldn't be GGG's best opponent. I said if GGG performed as poorly as Lara did in those fights, he'd be shat on. And I know you like to witter on about resumes and what not but in my opinion, provided they could fight at a fair weight Rosado would wipe the floor with Vanes, and Stevens would KO Angulo.
Those are pretty bold claims that few would share... (key being the "fair weight" part; even if they might win H2H at MW lets not act like beating a lesser bigger fighter is greater than beating a better smaller fighter automatically) Of course I talk about resumes all the time. They are all that matters. Who they fought and how those fights went down contains the answer to a fighters' greatness. You aren't great if you haven't fought anybody, regardless of how spectacular you look.
It does kinda depend on what's meant by overated. I don't think anyone would deny that Laras a very skilled fighter, but for me his only two really exceptional performances were Williams and Trout. Given that Williams at that time was coming off a brutal KO and a lay off it's even quite possible that we weren't seeing the pre-Maravilla Williams in the ring. The Trout win was exceptional, but I think it had as much to do with the styles match up - Trout was looking to counterpunch throughout the fight, but Laras speed and range made him totally ineffective. The Trout fight raised Laras stock a large amount, and I think it's perfectly fair to discuss him as a top 5 JMW, though it's clear there's some styles he'll have problems with. OTOH I don't see him as the guy to beat Floyd (or GGG for that matter, though I accept he's as good or better than anyone Golovkins faced).
Yeah, but my point is, even if they have a better resume, that doesn't mean they would win if they fought. I'm sure everyone agrees that Martinez has a better resume than Golovkin, but Golovkin would be the favorite if that fight got made- and rightfully so. And my point is, while Stevens resume isn't that impressive, right now head to head, I'd pick him over any middleweight not named Golovkin or Martinez. Head to head, when picking who'd beat who, Macklin is someone I'd have in the top 5 too, being that in reality he already beat Strum and gave Martinez a tough fight. Guys who Lara had a tough time with, other than Molina (i.e. Vanes and Angulo), I think at least 15-20 guys at 154 could beat them.
I agree. Golovkin has "sh*t defense" because he gets tagged by a few jabs but Lara's a "slick" defensive fighter after getting dropped by Angulo ? :huh And I'm not implying Golovkin's defense is impregnable either here.
Y'know, I think that fight just showed that there's real depth to Lara. He was buzzed twice and forced into the type of scrap which is designed to plague boxers; that selfless type of pressure which eats up space. Well he stuck to his guns and made the other guy call it a day. I don't think being given a hard time is as revealing as how you deal with a crisis. That's why Amir Khan is such a worry, because we know he's got survival problems beyond his chin. Lara's no Charley Burley, but he's very good in an era where there's a noticeable shortage of classical boxers.
Because his fat ass forgets more about boxing than You will ever know. Show the fat man some respect..
He's a really talented fighter and he had a stellar amateur career too. That said, I've noticed some of his fans trying to justify his 'poor performance' in the Molina fight by citing the ''no one looks good against Molina because he just holds all the time' excuse. But I'm not sure they can use that one as I watched it the other day and Molina actually fought a pretty clean fight. I wasn't giving the fight 100% attention because I was being distracted by other things at times, but I don't recall seeing excessive holding from him. The only time he did start to hold a lot was during the last two rounds when he tired. This was the first time I've seen Molina fight and to be honest I was expecting him to be really dirty and see lots of Bhop/Ward/Wlad illegal octopus style excessive holding given some of the negative stuff I'd heard other say about him. But that wasn't the case, at least not in that particular fight. Also, Molina was coming off a just under a 22 month layoff going into that fight too.
overrated for being discussed as a threat to mayweather and GGG. he wouldn't get the overrated label if his gay fans would admit that he isn't going to be #1 at 154 or 160.